A US air strike on a migrant detention centre in Sa’ada, north-western Yemen on 28 April killed and injured dozens of migrants and must be investigated as a violation of international humanitarian law, said Amnesty International today, amid reports that hundreds of people have been killed and injured as a result of US air strikes on Yemen since March 2025.
According to satellite imagery analysis, the US attacks carried out on Sa’ada prison compound struck the migrant detention centre and another building on the site.
Amnesty International spoke with three individuals who work with African migrant and refugee communities in Yemen. Two of them, who had visited the migrant detention centre as well as two nearby hospitals, and their morgues in the aftermath of the air strike, confirmed witnessing evidence of a high number of casualties. The organization also analysed satellite imagery and video footage of horrific scenes showing migrants’ bodies strewn across rubble and rescuers trying to pull badly wounded survivors from the debris.
“The US attacked a well-known detention facility where the Huthis have been detaining migrants who had no means to take shelter. The major loss of civilian life in this attack raises serious concerns about whether the US complied with its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the rules on distinction and precautions,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“The US must conduct a prompt, independent and transparent investigation into this air strike and into any other air strikes that have resulted in civilian casualties as well as those where the rules of international humanitarian law may have been violated.”
The major loss of civilian life in this attack raises serious concerns about whether the US complied with its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the rules on distinction and precautions,
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General
Witnesses who visited the Republican hospital and al Talh General hospital in Sa’ada, told Amnesty International they saw more than two dozen Ethiopian migrants who sustained injuries including severe amputations and fractures. They also said that the morgues at the hospitals ran out of space to receive dead bodies, so casualties received from the air strike had to be stacked outside. The ICRC, whose staff were at the site in the immediate aftermath of the attack, also confirmed in a statement a high number of casualties, many of whom were migrants.
Under international humanitarian law attacking forces have an obligation to do everything feasible to distinguish between military and civilian targets, to verify whether their intended target is a military objective and to cancel an attack if there is doubt. When attacking a military objective, parties to a conflict must also take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians in the vicinity.
If civilian harm is found to have occurred, victims and their families should receive full reparation for violations of international humanitarian law. Furthermore, if investigations find that there were direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks striking military targets and civilians without distinction and which killed or injured civilians, they should be investigated and treated as violations of internation law and potential war crimes.
Amnesty International’s arms experts analysed photos of the remnants of the weapons used in the attack and identified fragments of at least two 250 pound precision-guided GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs. US Central Command did not announce the target of the attack but a US defense official said they were assessing “claims” of civilian casualties in the strike, and conducting “our battle-damage assessment”. This assessment, including any conclusions related to civilian harm and efforts to respond to it, should promptly be made public.
The US should have known Sa’ada prison was a detention facility, that has been used for years by the Huthis to detain migrants and that it was regularly visited by ICRC. They should also have known that any aerial attack could result in significant civilian harm.
Amnesty also recalls that another detention facility within the same Sa’ada prison compound was hit by a Saudi-led coalition air strike on 21 January 2022, using a US-made precision guided munition, killing more than 90 detainees and injuring dozens. According to satellite imagery, since that strike in 2022 the Huthi de facto authorities have constructed additional buildings at that location, one of which was also struck on 28 April.
Amnesty International was unable to conclusively identify a legitimate military target within the Sa’ada prison compound. Restrictions by the Huthi de facto authorities on independent investigations, including access to the second location struck on 28 April, limit our ability to fully investigate the attack, or to rule out the possibility that there were military objectives within the prison compound. Any attack that fails to distinguish between civilians and civilian objects on the one hand, and legitimate military targets on the other, even within the same compound, constitutes an indiscriminate attack and a violation of international humanitarian law.
‘Shock and horror on their faces’
Amnesty International analysed dozens of videos and photos published by Huthi al Masira TV channel in addition to seven videos privately shared by one witness. This digital evidence showing bodies scattered in the rubble points to dozens of civilian migrant deaths and injuries in the air strike on the detention centre.
The Huthi-run Ministry of Interior stated that, at the time of the attack, the detention facility was holding 115 African migrant detainees, of whom 68 were killed and 47 were injured. If this number of casualties proves accurate, it would be the worst case of civilian harm in a single incident by the US military since an air strike in Mosul, Iraq in 2017.
Amnesty International could not independently verify the death toll, nor speak to survivors or medical workers, due to the Huthis’ ongoing crackdown on civic space. Huthi officials have issued several statements and directives prohibiting people from sharing names, photos, or any information related to the US air strikes’ casualties on social media and other public platforms. Multiple people said they were afraid to speak out of fear of reprisal. In recent years, aid workers, journalists and activists have been detained by the Huthis and accused of espionage.
Despite this, Amnesty International was able to speak, on condition of anonymity, with three individuals working with African migrant and refugee communities who said that all the migrant detainees held at this detention centre were Ethiopian, with the exception of one Eritrean.
One witness said he saw 25 injured migrants in the Republican hospital and nine in Al Talh General hospital in Sa’ada: “They suffered from different fractures and bruises. Some were in critical condition and two had amputated legs… The morgue in the Republican hospital was overwhelmed and there was no place left for tens of corpses that were still left outside the morgue for the second day.”
Another witness who visited both hospitals and spoke to dozens of the injured Ethiopian migrants said:
“They told me they were sleeping when they were hit with the first missile at around 4 a.m. in the morning (…) They said they woke up to find dismembered bodies around them. You could see the shock and horror on their faces. Some were still unable to speak because of the trauma.”
On 27 April, a day before the attack, US Central Command announced it had struck over 800 targets in Yemen since 15 March and that they were intentionally limiting disclosing information about their operations for reasons of operational security.
US Congress should ensure ongoing efforts to mitigate civilian harm
Critical systems put in place in recent years building on work started under the first Trump Administration to reduce and better respond to civilian harm caused by US lethal actions abroad are under threat by the current Trump Administration. News outlets have reported that programs at the Defense Department focused on civilian harm mitigation and response are being gutted, and that the US President has rolled back constraints on commanders authorizing certain types of air strikes and special operations. It has also been reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the top military lawyers responsible for ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law in military operations.
“At a time when the US appears to be shrinking efforts aimed at reducing civilian harm by US lethal actions, the US Congress should play its oversight role and demand information on investigations to date on these strikes. Congress must further ensure that civilian harm mitigation and response mechanisms remain intact and robustly respond to this and other recent incidents,” said Agnès Callamard.
Background
Between November 2023 and January 2025, Huthi armed forces have targeted at least 74 commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, which they claimed were linked to Israel, the USA or the UK.
US President Joe Biden began air strikes against the Huthis in 2024. The new wave of US strikes under the Trump Administration started on 15 March 2025 after the Huthis announced on 11 March that they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas in response to Israel blocking aid into the occupied Gaza Strip.
Since 15 March, the Huthis have launched missiles and drones at the USS Harry S. Truman, an aircraft carrier stationed in the Red Sea. They have also resumed their attacks on Israel, striking near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on 4 May. Israel retaliated in May with air strikes including on Hodeidah port and Sana’a airport.
On 6 May, the US announced it was ending its military campaign against the Huthis in Yemen.