More than 40 dead, including children, after Saudi-led coalition airstrike hits bus in Yemen

Yemen's Shiite rebels say the death toll from Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on a busy market and bus carrying civilians in the country's north has risen to 43.

The rebel-controlled health ministry in the capital Sanaa said Thursday's attack (overnight, NZT) also wounded 63. The bus was carrying children as well as adults.

The coalition said it targeted the rebels, known as Houthis, because they had fired a missile at the kingdom's south the previous day, killing one person.

Colonel Turki al-Malki , coalition spokesman, said Thursday's attack in Saada is a "legitimate military action" and was carried out "in accordance with international humanitarian law and customs."

He accused the Houthis of using children as shields in the battlefields.