A missile fragment discovered in the debris after Friday’s devastating airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition on the Yemeni city of Saada has been identified as having come from a bomb produced by a US weapons manufacturer.
The January 21 attack on a migrant detention facility in a Houthi rebel stronghold claimed several dozen lives, including those of a number of children, and prompted UN General Secretary António Guterres to call for an “Transparent and effective investigation.”
The footage, shared by YouTube and filmed by Houthi rebel members, captures scenes of distressing rescue workers moving bodies out of rubble. One fragment, which is alleged to be from the lethal weapon that was used in raid, can be seen, along with some of its numbers and identifying text.
“That’s the manufacturer cage code for Raytheon,” Marc Garlasco, a military adviser from the Netherlands-based PAX Protection of Civilians NGO wrote on Twitter, referring to the US’ Raytheon Technologies Corporation, one of the world’s largest aerospace and intelligence services suppliers.
Raytheon describes itself on its website as being focused on “Innovating in areas such as advanced propulsion, thermal management, and electrification.” Its list of cage codes includes the number 96214, which matches that seen on the fragment found in Saada.
A CNN investigation also listed the same Raytheon cage code found on shrapnel after coalition airstrikes in Yemen in 2015, 2016 and 2018.
LEARN MORE
US bomb pieces found at Yemen bus strike site as Pentagon says ‘we may never know’ who supplied it
It isn’t the first time bomb fragments made from American weapons were found in the rubble of Yemen. The US has continued to supply weapons and logistical and intelligence support to Saudi Arabia, despite numerous calls from human rights organizations to cease its exports.
An August 2018 Yemeni journalist. identifiedThe missile fragments discovered after an attack against a bus packed with children were believed to have been derived form a Raytheon Mark 82 universal-purpose, free-fall bomb.
As a response to Houthi drone attack in Yemen by the United Arab Emirates, a ally of Saudi Arabia in this conflict, the Saudi-led Coalition has intensified its airstrikes in Yemen.
Share this story via social media
[ad_2]
