'Grief and Anger' in Yemen After US-Backed Saudi Bombing Kills Seven Children, Nine Others

Warning: This story contains graphic images and video.

A Saudi Arabia-led coalition attack on Yemen Tuesday killed 16 people, including seven children, the latest massacre in the years long conflict.

"These children should not be victims of this conflict," Save the Children in Yemen country director Tamer Kirolos told Middle East Eye. "Yet, they have paid the highest price imaginable. We're calling for an independent investigation into the attack and for perpetrators to be held to account."

Graphic video and photos from the attack showed the extent of the destruction and human devastation.

Survivors buried the victims in a mass grave, Yemeni journalist Mohammed Hojily reported. 

The attack was took place in Dhalea province, an area controlled by Houthi rebels, China's Xinhua News Agency reported. 

The Saudi-led war on Yemen—backed by the U.S. government—has raged for over four years. 

According to Al Jazeera, the Houthis had hoped for a mutual drawdown in hostilities:

The deadly strikes came four days after the Houthi rebels said they would stop missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia—if the military alliance targeting Yemen does the same—after the militia that controls most of the country claimed responsibility for a brazen attack on oil facilities in the kingdom.

"The aggressors do not understand the message of peace... but only messages of drones and of missile power," Houthi rebels said on their Al Masirah television station.

Tuesday's attack came less than a week after a drone strike on a Saudi oil field on September 19. The oil field strike, which killed nobody, drew widespread condemnation from leaders in Europe and the U.S., but thus far those leaders have been silent about the Yemen attack. 

"Europe will not condemn this," tweeted Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft vice president Trita Parsi. "But a strike against an oil field in Saudi Arabia that killed no one, they condemned in 'strongest terms.'"