68 civilians detained in Sa’ada's Remand Detention Center were killed and at least 47 injured by U.S. airstrikes on the morning of April 28, 2025. The Center primarily held migrants coming from African countries and was believed to be holding 115 people at the time of the strike. Yemen is a frequent route for African migrants hoping to reach the Gulf states; such migrants, when intercepted by Houthis, are typically sent to detention camps.
This incident was conceded by the U.S. military in its annual 1057 report to Congress, released in August 2026. It is one of the highest incidents of civilian harm ever conceded by the U.S. military. The U.S. military admitted to killing 68 civilians and injuring 47 others. In their description of the incident, the report states that the operation was "air strike using strike authorities against a declared hostile force in an area of armed conflict." In their investigation into the incident, the U.S. military did not do witness interviews and site visits but used "U.S. intelligence sources, imagery, and open-source reporting."
An investigation published by Amnesty International on October 29, 2025 reported that survivors of the Remand strike were awakened by an explosion between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m. The investigation attributed this explosion to a U.S. airstrike on a different structure, also within the Sa’ada prison compound. The strike on the Remand centre reportedly occurred “minutes later.”
@TvAlmasirah reported that 35 bodies had been recovered, though another 30 were still missing. Civil Defense crews later reported the deaths of 68 people, a death toll that was corroborated by Al Jazeera. Other sources reported that the injury toll could be as high as 65.
In speaking with Houthi officials, Amnesty International reported that – according to Houthi officials – “117 African migrants were detained at the time of the strike, of whom 61 were killed and 56 injured.”
According to a report by Mwatana for Human Rights, which was published in September 2026 by Brown University's Cost of War project, "U.S. aircraft launched three airstrikes" on the detention facility. "One of the strikes directly hit the hangar housing the migrants in the northeastern section of the prison, while two additional strikes hit other parts of the facility but did not detonate. The attack completely destroyed the migrants’ hangar, resulting in a high casualty toll of 68 killed and 47 injured among African migrants. Several prison guards and personnel were also killed or injured."
@TvAlmasirah shared photographs of bodies – some severed – amid rubble in the nearly completely destroyed building. A video shared by the same source showed brutalized remains, blood dried to dirt; multiple bodies are visible. In the background, the videographer can be heard praying; his voice is soft – “God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs”. Balqees TV emphasized that those killed were not “fighters with weapons” but instead migrants looking for better lives. They ended up “dead or wounded” in a war they were “not part of.”
Facebook user Majd Al-Madani Saada included photographs of extraction efforts. Bodies collected by the Red Crescent were tagged with information cards. One man, whose body was placed on white plastic wrapping, had an information card proclaiming him a victim of the Detention Center strike. In death, his identity was lost: under “name” was recorded only “Anonymous”.
Rescue teams from both the Yemeni Red Crescent and local Civil Defense sifted through rubble to extract the injured. The wounded were taken to the Republican Hospital; video shared by @TvAlmasirah showed numb faces, people shifting to accommodate injured limbs, a man holding his head, eyes closed. Most of the injuries were deemed critical. Especially severe cases were sent to hospitals in the Yemen's capital, Sanaa.
The Vice President of the Republican Hospital, Dr. Ali Al-Hamzi, met with “representatives of government agencies, humanitarian organizations, and African communities” following the strike where they “toured the hospital wards, where they were briefed on the health conditions of the African wounded [and heard] about the nature of their injuries and the care provided to them.”
Amnesty International spoke with “three individuals who work with African migrant and refugee communities in Yemen” and ICRC staff, including two of whom who had visited the migrant detention center, along with two nearby hospitals and their morgues, and confirmed seeing “a high number of casualties” and said that all the migrants detainees held at the detention center were Ethiopian, with the exception of one Eritrean national. According to one activist who visited the Republican hospital and al Talh General hospital in Sa’ada, 25 injured migrants were receiving treatment at the Republican hospital while nine were receiving treatment in al Talh General hospital: “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.”
Amnesty International spoke with another activist who spoke with dozens of the injured migrants: “They told me they were sleeping when they were hit with the first missile at around 4:00 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.”
Speaking with Mwatana for Human Rights, a 25-year-old survivor (an Ethiopian national) explained that “At around 4:30 a.m. on Monday, the hangar where I was detained in the pretrial detention center in Sa’dah was bombed. The first strike hit while we were in deep sleep. I could not believe what I saw — thirty of my fellow detainees died; their bodies were charred, and the smell of burned flesh filled the air. The place was crowded with bodies, while others were screaming and calling for help and rescue.” He added: “There were about 120 of us in the hangar, all migrants. I tried to provide first aid to some of the injured. Some were crying out and stretching their hands for help before our eyes, and we could do nothing for them. The delay in rescue and medical response — caused by the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group — also contributed to the rising death toll.”
On October 29, 2025, Amnesty International published a report, “Yemen: “It is a miracle we survived”: U.S. air strike on civilians held in Sa’ada detention centre.” In the report, Amnesty outlined their investigation into the U.S. strike on the migrant detention centre. The report concluded that – per Amnesty’s investigation – the center was not a military objective. Through interviews with survivors of the strike – all of whom were Ethiopian migrants – Amnesty reported that “the migrant detention center was an open space, so [survivors] were able to see everyone who was present in the building, whom were all migrant detainees.”
Outlining the events of the strike, Amnesty reported that a second building in the Sa’ada prison center was hit minutes before the Remand facility. Reviewing satellite imagery, the Amnesty investigation found that a building “located about 180 meters from where the migrants were detained, was hit and destroyed the same day.” Amnesty submitted questions to the Houthis – the de-facto governing body in Sa’ada – who reported that the other building struck was a “prison administration building.”
Following the sound of the explosion which woke many of the migrants, survivors said that they ran towards the gate of the detention center and “screamed for help and pounded on the gate, asking the prison guards to let them out to seek safety.” In response, the prison guards allegedly fired warning shots to keep the detainees inside the walls. “Minutes later, a second U.S. airstrike hit the migrant detention center.”
Responding to questions from Amnesty, Houthi officials claimed that “there were no recorded instances in which prison guards prevented detainees from fleeing the targeted area or from seeking a safe location.” Still, Amnesty reported that it wasn’t clear whether the officials had specifically investigated reports of detainees being unable to seek safety following the first reported U.S. strike on a different building.
The report also notes that the migrant detention center had long served as such. “The facility, part of the Sa’ada prison compound, had been used for years by the [Houthis] to detain migrants, and its civilian nature was widely known. It was visited by humanitarian organizations.”
In addition to the site having long-operated as a migrant detention center, Amnesty reported that on January 21, 2022, the Saudi-led coalition carried out an airstrike on another detention facility within the same prison compound in Sa’ada. A U.S.-made precision guided munition was used in the 2022 attack, and ultimately killed more than 90 detainees and injured dozens others.
Given such history, Amnesty concluded that the U.S. should have known that the center was a civilian object “and that any aerial attack could result in significant death and injury to civilians.” Outlining the U.S. military’s obligation to mitigate harm to civilians, the report detailed that “Under international humanitarian law, attacking forces have an obligation to do everything feasible to verify whether their intended target is a military objective and, if there is doubt in this respect, to refrain from launching an attack or to cancel or suspend it.”
The New York Times spoke with Fanta Ali Ahmed, a 32-year-old man who was injured in the April 28 bombing of the detention facility. Fanta is from the Tigray region of Ethiopia and was hoping to reach Saudi Arabia but instead was detained while passing through Yemen. When multiple bombs tore through the roof of the detention facility, Fanta initially thought he was the only one hurt but later realized that “The place and everyone in it were mangled,” with he himself sustaining two broken legs and a broken arm while 10 people close to him were killed.
In preparing its report, Amnesty International spoke with 15 survivors of the U.S. strike, reporting that “the air strike caused profound civilian harm with devastating, long-lasting consequences.” Of the 15 survivors interviewed, 14 sustained “critical injuries with lifelong impacts including lost limbs, serious nerve damage, as well as head, spine and chest trauma.” The report went on to detail that “Two of the 15 migrants had their legs amputated, one had his hand amputated, and one lost an eye.”
Amnesty reportedly conducted interviews with survivors almost two months after the strike. At that time, 10 of the 15 survivors said they still required some form of medical treatment, “including follow up surgeries and medication.” Survivors also said that they were paying for their necessary treatment themselves.
Amnesty published excerpts from some of the survivor interviews, changing the names of those they spoke to for security reasons. 20-year-old “Hagos” survived the attack. He regained consciousness in a hospital the day after the attack. When he woke up, he found that he had lost his leg. Describing his pain, Hagos said “You just wish you were dead there… I am begging for some money from friends to get the treatment and pills.”
“Desta,” another survivor, suffered from a head injury and lost one of his eyes. “He was so traumatized that he could not speak for 20 days.” Speaking with Amnesty, Desta said, “The attack was really terrible, it killed lots of people, it made us disabled and left others in shock and terror.”
In July 2026, the Middle East Eye (MEE) published interviews with the families of several victims, along with a number of people who were injured in the strike. According to the survivors, "the people killed in the strike were all Ethiopians, all men and mostly in their early 20's."
Speaking with the parents of Hiwot Mehari, who was killed in the strike, MEE reported that the young man was "Born into poverty" and "took the dangerous smuggling route out of Ethiopia and across the Red Sea to Yemen, from where he hoped to reach Saudi Arabia" in search of better opportunities. "After two years in the deadly border region between Yemen and Saudi Arabia known as Rago, [Hiwot] was caught by border security men and thrown into prison. On 28 April 2025, he became one of dozens of Ethiopians killed in a U.S. air strike on a migrant detention in Sa'ada, northwest Yemen. The next day, at noon, [Hiwot's] parents received the news at home from a neighbor in the Tsirae district of war-ravaged Tigray."
Mehari Akeza, Hiwot's father, spoke about the shock and heartbreak of losing his son, and lamented not even being able to bury their child after his killing. He also explained that “The world seems to have forgotten our children’s death. We want compensation.” Hiwot's mother, Mebrat Gebre, tearfully questioned the U.S. military's basis for the attack, saying, “I have never heard of a government killing prisoners for no reason.”
Berhan Akeza, the devastated mother of Tsiruy Hailu, explained that her son had been the primary breadwinner for her family and that he, too, had left the war-torn Tigray region and traveled to the Arabian Peninsula “to realize his dream,” arriving in Yemen in 2022 at age 22.
MEE also reported that the strike "left many survivors with permanent disabilities, including lost limbs, serious nerve damage and other traumas," and spoke directly with several of the injured, all of whom were young men from Ethiopia.
27-year-old Haben Tuemzgi "sustained serious injuries to both legs and both hands." According to the article, "he still has metal embedded in his bones and his condition is worsening because of a lack of sufficient medical care." Still in Yemen, Haben described his agonizing condition, saying, “I am like a man between death and life. Sometimes I wish I had died instead of living like this."
25-year-old Haile Wolday "said he suffered wounds to his leg and hand, and now lives in continuous pain." Speaking to MEE, the young man expressed, “I have no future to see,” and lamented that “I came here to make money and feed my family but now people are feeding me.”
MEE spoke with "Another survivor, from the Gulomekeda district of Tigray [who] already returned home to live with his family." The man "explained that he is suffering from severe injuries to his leg and eye, which still require medical treatment he cannot afford." Like some of the other survivors interviewed, the man - who chose to remain anonymous - voiced particular distress about becoming "a burden to my family,” saying that “I was a man with a big dream before America turned my life upside down.”
Annedaa News reported that the Houthi Ministry of Interior claimed the detention center “was under the supervision of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Red Cross”. IOM specified that it “does not directly manage” the center but was “closely monitoring the situation.” For their part, IOM expressed the organization was “deeply saddened by the reports of the tragic loss of life in Sada'a, Yemen, where many migrants are believed to have been killed or injured.”
Almashhad News reported that the strike “targeted a center officially used as a correctional facility” but claimed that “field reports indicate that the Houthis have converted it into a security operations headquarters, keeping the migrants inside despite calls for their evacuation." The people held inside were detained “for months in inhumane conditions, without being able to communicate with their families or international organizations.” According to Amnesty International, “The U.S. should have known Sa’ada prison was a detention facility, that has been used for years by the Houthis to detain migrants and that it was regularly visited by ICRC.”
The conclusion of Amnesty International’s investigation was such: “The U.S. must conduct a prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into the air strike on the Sa’ada migrant detention center and make the results public. Survivors of this attack deserve nothing less than full justice. They must receive full, effective, and prompt reparations, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition, through an effective and accessible mechanism.”
All sources who named a belligerent identified the U.S. military. Quoted by The Washington Post, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stated “We are currently conducting our battle-damage assessment and inquiry into those claims [of civilian harm].”
In August 2026, this incident was conceded by the U.S. military in its annual 1057 report to Congress. It is one of the highest incidents of civilian harm ever conceded by the U.S. military. However, its statement regarding the strike and resulting civilian harm, the U.S. military announced that "Ex gratia was determined to not be appropriate for this incident."
Per the report, "An ex gratia payment may be one of several possible response options that might be appropriate for DoW to take when U.S. military operations injure or kill a civilian or damage or destroy civilian objects. Other possible response options could include an acknowledgement of responsibility, provision of medical care, or other appropriate measures that may be consistent with mission objectives and applicable law. Such actions have historically been used to express condolences, sympathy, or goodwill, and to support mission objectives. Such actions are not required by law, not an admission of wrongdoing, and not for the purpose of compensating the injured civilian or the civilian’s family for their loss."