Saudi-led coalition in Yemen says UN statement ‘biased’

CAIRO – The Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen has criticized a United Nations statement on civilian casualties in the war-torn country as “biased” toward the rebels.

The coalition said in a Thursday statement carried by the Saudi news agency SPA that the U.N. needs to review the humanitarian work mechanism and the competence of its employees working in Yemen.

Earlier on Thursday, the U.N. said coalition airstrikes killed 109 civilians over the past 10 days, including 68 in one day in separate airstrikes.

The coalition says the statement “creates a constant state of uncertainty about the information and data on which the U.N. relies and undermines its credibility.”

Yemen’s stalemated civil war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million and pushed the country to the brink of famine.