CNN Admits:
U.S. Supplied Bomb That Killed Yemeni Kids
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The bomb used by Saudi Arabia in a devastating attack on a school bus in Yemen was sold as part of a U.S. State Department-sanctioned arms deal with Saudi Arabia, munitions experts told CNN.
Working with local Yemeni journalists and munitions experts, CNN said it had established that the weapon that left dozens of children dead on August 9 was a 500-pound (227 kilogram) laser-guided MK 82 bomb made by Lockheed Martin, one of the top US defense contractors.
The bomb is very similar to the one that wreaked devastation in an attack on a funeral hall in Yemen in October 2016 in which 155 people were killed and hundreds more wounded. Saudi Arabia blamed "incorrect information" for that strike, admitted it was a mistake and took responsibility.
In March of that year, a strike on a Yemeni market -- this time reportedly by a U.S.-supplied precision-guided MK 84 bomb -- killed 97 people.
In the aftermath of the funeral hall attack, former U.S. President Barack Obama banned the sale of precision-guided military technology to Saudi Arabia over "human rights concerns."
The ban was overturned by the Trump administration's then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March 2017.
As the U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia allegedly scrambles to investigate the strike on the school bus, questions are growing from observers and rights groups about whether the U.S. bears any moral culpability. The U.S. says it does not make targeting decisions for the kingdom but it does support its operations through billions of dollars in arms sales, the refueling of Saudi combat aircraft and some sharing of intelligence.
The latest strike has left the community in Yemen's northern Saada governorate reeling.
Zeid Al Homran visits the graveyard where his two little boys are buried every day. On this occasion, he brought their five-year-old brother along. He is all Al Homran has left.
"I was screaming in anger and all around me women were throwing themselves on the ground," he told CNN. "People were screaming out the names of their children. I tried to tell the women it couldn't be true but then a man ran through the crowd shouting that a plane had struck the children's bus."
The bomb's impact as it landed on the bus full of excited schoolchildren on a day trip was devastating.
Of the 51 people who died in the airstrike, 40 were children, Health Minister Taha al-Mutawakil said last week. He added that of the 79 people wounded, 56 were children.
Eyewitnesses told CNN it was a direct hit in the middle of a busy market.
"I saw the bomb hit the bus," one witness said. "It blew it into those shops and threw the bodies clear to the other side of those buildings. We found bodies scattered everywhere, there was a severed head inside the bomb crater. When we found that, that was when I started running. I was so afraid."
Some of the bodies were so mutilated that identification became impossible. Left behind were scraps of schoolbooks, warped metal and a single backpack.
Images of shrapnel filmed in the immediate aftermath of the attack were sent to CNN by a contact in Saada. Subsequently, a cameraman working for CNN filmed footage of the shrapnel after the cleanup operation had begun.
Munitions experts confirmed that the numbers on it identified Lockheed Martin as its maker and that this particular MK 82 was a Paveway, a laser-guided bomb.
Saudi Arabia denies targeting civilians and defended the incident as a "legitimate military operation" and a retaliatory response to a Houthi ballistic missile from the day before.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, declined to confirm the provenance of the bomb.
"The U.S. has worked with the Saudi-led coalition to help them improve procedures and oversight mechanisms to reduce civilian casualties," she said.
"While we do not independently verify claims of civilian casualties in which we are not directly involved, we call on all sides to reduce such casualties, including those caused via ballistic missile attacks on civilian population centers in Saudi Arabia."
The United Nations has called for a separate investigation into the strike, one of the deadliest since Yemen's war began in early 2015.
The U.S., alongside the UK and France, is a major supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Trump signed a nearly $110 billion military deal with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in May last year in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on what was his first stop abroad as President.
In the same month, the U.S. government reauthorized the export of Paveway munitions to Saudi Arabia, ending Obama's December 2016 ban.
The Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdullah Al-Mouallimi, told the Security Council this week that the strike was a "legitimate military action" and that "the targeted Houthi leaders were responsible for recruiting and training young children and sending them to battlefields."
The Saudi war in Yemen has resulted in the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 22 million people -- three-quarters of the population -- in desperate need of aid and protection, according to the UN.
Working with local Yemeni journalists and munitions experts, CNN said it had established that the weapon that left dozens of children dead on August 9 was a 500-pound (227 kilogram) laser-guided MK 82 bomb made by Lockheed Martin, one of the top US defense contractors.
The bomb is very similar to the one that wreaked devastation in an attack on a funeral hall in Yemen in October 2016 in which 155 people were killed and hundreds more wounded. Saudi Arabia blamed "incorrect information" for that strike, admitted it was a mistake and took responsibility.
In March of that year, a strike on a Yemeni market -- this time reportedly by a U.S.-supplied precision-guided MK 84 bomb -- killed 97 people.
In the aftermath of the funeral hall attack, former U.S. President Barack Obama banned the sale of precision-guided military technology to Saudi Arabia over "human rights concerns."
The ban was overturned by the Trump administration's then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March 2017.
As the U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia allegedly scrambles to investigate the strike on the school bus, questions are growing from observers and rights groups about whether the U.S. bears any moral culpability. The U.S. says it does not make targeting decisions for the kingdom but it does support its operations through billions of dollars in arms sales, the refueling of Saudi combat aircraft and some sharing of intelligence.
The latest strike has left the community in Yemen's northern Saada governorate reeling.
Zeid Al Homran visits the graveyard where his two little boys are buried every day. On this occasion, he brought their five-year-old brother along. He is all Al Homran has left.
"I was screaming in anger and all around me women were throwing themselves on the ground," he told CNN. "People were screaming out the names of their children. I tried to tell the women it couldn't be true but then a man ran through the crowd shouting that a plane had struck the children's bus."
The bomb's impact as it landed on the bus full of excited schoolchildren on a day trip was devastating.
Of the 51 people who died in the airstrike, 40 were children, Health Minister Taha al-Mutawakil said last week. He added that of the 79 people wounded, 56 were children.
Eyewitnesses told CNN it was a direct hit in the middle of a busy market.
"I saw the bomb hit the bus," one witness said. "It blew it into those shops and threw the bodies clear to the other side of those buildings. We found bodies scattered everywhere, there was a severed head inside the bomb crater. When we found that, that was when I started running. I was so afraid."
Some of the bodies were so mutilated that identification became impossible. Left behind were scraps of schoolbooks, warped metal and a single backpack.
Images of shrapnel filmed in the immediate aftermath of the attack were sent to CNN by a contact in Saada. Subsequently, a cameraman working for CNN filmed footage of the shrapnel after the cleanup operation had begun.
Munitions experts confirmed that the numbers on it identified Lockheed Martin as its maker and that this particular MK 82 was a Paveway, a laser-guided bomb.
Saudi Arabia denies targeting civilians and defended the incident as a "legitimate military operation" and a retaliatory response to a Houthi ballistic missile from the day before.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, declined to confirm the provenance of the bomb.
"The U.S. has worked with the Saudi-led coalition to help them improve procedures and oversight mechanisms to reduce civilian casualties," she said.
"While we do not independently verify claims of civilian casualties in which we are not directly involved, we call on all sides to reduce such casualties, including those caused via ballistic missile attacks on civilian population centers in Saudi Arabia."
The United Nations has called for a separate investigation into the strike, one of the deadliest since Yemen's war began in early 2015.
The U.S., alongside the UK and France, is a major supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Trump signed a nearly $110 billion military deal with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in May last year in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on what was his first stop abroad as President.
In the same month, the U.S. government reauthorized the export of Paveway munitions to Saudi Arabia, ending Obama's December 2016 ban.
The Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdullah Al-Mouallimi, told the Security Council this week that the strike was a "legitimate military action" and that "the targeted Houthi leaders were responsible for recruiting and training young children and sending them to battlefields."
The Saudi war in Yemen has resulted in the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 22 million people -- three-quarters of the population -- in desperate need of aid and protection, according to the UN.