Group: Saudi-led coalition killed 47 Yemen fishermen in 2018

A leading rights group says the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 47 Yemeni fishermen in bombing attacks on fishing boats last year.

Human Rights Watch says seven children were among the dead.

The New York-based group also said Wednesday that more than 100 Yemeni fishermen are held in Saudi Arabia, some of whom have been tortured in custody.

Priyanka Motaparthy, HRW’s acting emergencies director, says attacks on fishermen “make it clear that the Saudi-led coalition is not only killing civilians through countless illegal airstrikes, but also while conducting operations at sea.”

She says the attacks “appear to be deliberate,” and calls for a U.N. investigation.

HRW says that Yemen’s Houthi rebels, whom the Saudi-led coalition has been battling since March 2015, have also attacked commercial traffic in the Red Sea.