Faced with US sanction, Saudis agree to investigate funeral bombing

Sanaa: The Saudi Arabian-led alliance fighting rebel forces in Yemen has promised to investigate the deaths of 140 people in an air strike on a funeral reception after the US threatened to withdraw military support over the incident.

The US presence in the area has since come under fire, with the US military confirming that a guided missile destroyer was targeted on Sunday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

"USS Mason detected two inbound missiles over a 60-minute period while in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen. Both missiles impacted the water before reaching the ship," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.

"There were no injuries to our sailors and no damage to the ship," he said.

A man takes photos of the damage caused by the reception hall airstrike.Credit: AP

Saudi Arabia initially denied responsibility for the funeral bombing, which left 534 people wounded and turned the gathering into what witnesses called a "lake of blood". But the alliance said in a statement yesterday that it would invite US experts to participate in an "immediate investigation".

"The coalition is also willing to provide the investigation team with any data and information related to its military operations today, at the incident's location and the surrounding areas," it said.

Fragments of shrapnel found by a news crew from Britain's ITV network at the site of Saturday's bombing appeared to be from a US-made Mark 82 bomb.

Thousands of Yemenis, many of them armed, gathered at the United Nations headquarters in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Sunday calling for an international investigation into an air strike on a wake this weekend that was widely blamed on Saudi-led forces.

Bodies of victims of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike are loaded into an ambulance.Credit: AP

The attack - which killed at least 140 people on Saturday - hit a hall where rows of the city's notables had gathered for the wake of a leading politician's father.

The attack has been condemned by the UN, the European Union, the United States and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which said on Sunday one of their staff was among those killed.

People inspect the aftermath of an air strike in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which killed at least 100 people and injured hundreds more.Credit: AP

Pictures showed the inside of the once-ornate hall reduced to a pile of twisted metal and rubble after two huge explosions.

Radios and mosque loudspeakers throughout the city blared mourning verses as demonstrators crowded the streets around the UN headquarters, many waving their rifles in the air.

Nada, a high school student living near the site said body parts propelled by the explosion flew into her house.

"What happened was an unprecedented crime ... The sight of it was terrifying and will never leave my mind," she said.

One Sanaa resident, Ahmed Abu Taleb, described his frantic search for a relative.

"We were searching in the hall and in hospitals from the afternoon until dawn today, but after all our anguish we learned that he was among the dead."

On Sunday, former Yemeni dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh called for more attacks at the Saudi border. He holds sway in the military units fighting alongside Houthi rebels who pushed Yemen's internationally recognised government into exile in March 2015.

The head of the Houthi movement called for revenge and for tribal leaders to mobilise.

"I urge everyone to join the front lines for revenge. With God as a witness you are responsible for defending your people," said Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.

Saudi Arabia has launched thousands of air strikes against the Houthis, who the kingdom and its Gulf Arab allies fear are a proxy for Iran.

Telegraph, London, Reuters