At least 12 villagers and rescuers were killed in a Saudi-led airstrike on a school and mosque on the western outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Saturday morning, residents and medics said.

Nine villagers were killed in the first airstrike in Bani Yousuf village of al-Haimah al-Kharijyah district at dawn, a medical official told Xinhua, adding that a second strike hit the area minutes later as rescuers were hurrying to help, killing three of them.

This is the latest in a series of airstrikes against Yemeni civilians since the war started in March 2015.

On Jan. 2, the coalition killed six civilians in airstrikes on a residential quarter in Sakeen district of the northern Yemeni province of Saada, according to residents and rescuers.

The coalition has been fighting the dominant Houthi rebels, which have seized control of most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa since Sept. 2014, to restore power to the expelled but internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

source: Xinhua