DHAKA: Dozens of people have been killed at a Yemeni prison complex in air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Saturday (October 30).

Strikes hit a building used as a prison in the al-Zaydiya security headquarters in the western port of Hudaydah, reports the BBC.

Rebels and inmates were among more than 30 dead, officials said.

Houthi media put the death toll at 43.

The coalition, which backs Yemen’s exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, has been criticized for the number of civilians killed in its air strikes.

Earlier this month, at least 140 people were killed, most of them civilians, when planes bombed a funeral hall in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

The coalition later blamed the attack on “bad information”.

The latest air strikes came as President Hadi rejected a new peace proposal submitted by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

President Hadi, who lives in exile in the Saudi capital Riyadh, said the plan “rewards the coup leaders and punishes the Yemeni people at the same time”.

Details of the peace “roadmap” have not been made public but are believed to give the rebels a share in any future government.

The plan is also believed to involve reducing some presidential powers in exchange for Houthis withdrawing from major cities.

The city is under the control of Houthi rebels, who have been battling the government since 2014.

BDST: 1004 HRS, OCT 30, 2016
NJ/BD