SANAA, Yemen, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was able to enter Yemen's restive Saada province following a cease-fire agreement between warring factions.
"After long discussions with the parties involved in the clashes, we finally obtained access to Dammaj today, and evacuated 23 of the most critically wounded in what we hope will be the first of a number of such operations," Cedric Schweizer, head of the ICRC delegation in Sanaa, said in a statement Monday.
The ICRC last week called for an immediate cease-fire after it voiced alarm over reports of heavy civilian casualties in the midst of the attacks in the northern town of Dammaj.
The Yemen Post reported last week clashes erupted in the region after the Sunni Muslim fighters clashed with their Shiite rivals in the area. Houthis, a Shiite group operating in northern Yemen, started a rebellion against the government in 2004.
The official Saba News Agency reported Yemeni President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi dispatched a special team of responders to Dammaj to help bring the dead and wounded back to Sanaa.
