Wedding Party Death Toll Jumps to 131 as US-Backed Coalition Denies Wrongdoing

The death toll from the bombing of a Yemeni wedding party on Monday has jumped to 131 people, “making it one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Yemen’s war,” Reuters reports.

Initially reported as a “mistaken” air strike by the Saudi-led coalition, the U.S. backed group is now denying its role in the civilian tragedy as a coalition spokesperson “suggested local militias may have been responsible” for targeting the party, which included many women and children.

Saudi Arabia-led airstrikes “mistakenly” struck a wedding party in Yemen early Monday killing at least 38 people, many of which were women and children.

The U.S.-backed coalition was purportedly targeting Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, when it bombed a celebration in al-Wahga, a village near the strategic Strait of Bab al-Mandab. One senior government official declared the two airstrikes a “mistake.”