Air strike in Yemen kills seven civillians

The Yemeni air force launched a series of air strikes against militants in the southern province of Abayan, killing seven civilians and a dozen militants.

The civilians were killed during an accidental airstrike on the grand mosque, locals said. The intended target was a smaller mosque in the city of Jaar that officials believed was held by al-Qaeda officials.

Sources said that Jaar's hospital became overrun by miltants who began treating fighters who had been wounded during the strikes. Al-Jazeera English reports that another raid targeted the hospital, killing two militants.

The court and police station were also targeted, and s secondary school in the region was entirely destroyed by the raids.

According to a local official, Mohsen Salem Saeed, the air force also attacked Mount Jaar, where extremists are reportedly hiding.

"The raids were randomly launched, leaving casualties among civilians and al-Qaeda fighters alike. It is a humanitarian catastrophe," he said to Al Jazeera English.

The President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh is currently recuperating in Saudi Arabia after being wounded in a bomb attack on his palace last June. The tense political climate has resulted in a security vacuum in the southern part of the country where al Qaeda militants are fighting with the military.

In another town in the same province, Loder, tribesmen arrested a suicide bomber before he blew himself up in a local market. He admitted that he was planning to attack the market, and that two other bombers were still in the town's center. The tribesmen took him to an army camp where the explosive belt that he was wearing was removed, and the town was evacuated and witnesses said that tribespeople searched for the other two bombers. Sources confirmed that the suicide bomber was linked to al Qaeda.

In July, leaders in Loder had said that there were no longer an al-Qaeda members in the town.