The attack was one of the deadliest so far in six weeks of intensified US airstrikes against the Houthis, an Iran-aligned group that controls northern Yemen and has struck shipping in the Red Sea in what it says is solidarity with the Palestinians.

The US military did not immediately respond to a Reuters email requesting comment on the strike. The military has said it will not give detailed information about targets of its airstrikes for reasons of operational security.

Houthi-run Al Masirah television showed images of the aftermath of the strike in Saada, on a route used by African migrants to cross impoverished, conflict-riven Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia.

The footage showed bodies covered in dust amid blood-stained rubble. Rescue workers carried a man who was moving slightly on a stretcher. A survivor could be heard calling "My mother" in Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia.

--Reuters--