DUBAI — Landmines planted by Yemeni rebels in an effort to halt the advance of pro-government forces are exacting a mounting toll on civilians, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
Civilians already account for more than half of the 5,000 people killed since a Saudi-led coalition launched a military intervention against the Houthi Shiite rebels in March, according to the United Nations.
"Landmines have killed at least 12 people and wounded over nine," Human Rights Watch said, adding that the real casualty toll "may be much higher."
"The Houthis are killing and maiming civilians with landmines," said HRW's arms director Steve Goose.
"Antipersonnel landmines are indiscriminate weapons that should not be used under any circumstances."
The Houthis, backed by renegade troops still loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, overran the capital Sanaa in September last year and then seized much of the rest of the country.
Loyalist and coalition forces have pushed them out of most of the south since March and are battling them in Marib province east of the capital and around third city Taez.
Meanwhile, the head of the UN children's agency UNICEF said more than half a million children are facing life-threatening severe malnutrition in Yemen where the humanitarian crisis is worsening.
"The stunting rates in Yemen are likely to go up. It means children do not reach their full height but also that their cognitive capacities are affected, which becomes a permanent burden on the whole society," said Anthony Lake in an interview with AFP.
The United Nations has designated Yemen as one of its highest-level humanitarian crises with 80 percent of the population on the brink of famine.
Aid deliveries have been severely restricted, compounding the crisis from eight months of war that have left 10 million children in need of urgent relief.
A UN push for peace talks to end the fighting between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Houthi rebels has run into hurdles, with no date set for negotiations to begin.
"The situation continues to worsen," said Lake. "What we need is a political settlement urgently." — Agencies
