At least 15 Yemeni civilians were killed in an air strike by a Saudi-led military coalition outside the capital, residents said on Wednesday, as prospects for a new round of UN-sponsored talks to end the war in Yemen dimmed. A spokesman for the coalition said the reports of the air strike were inaccurate, without elaborating.

According to residents who spoke to Reuters by phone, the air strike hit an area near the village of Bilad al-Rus, around 40 km (25 miles) south of Sanaa, close to an army base for Houthi-allied Yemeni forces which have been fighting Saudi-backed troops in the conflict. Twenty-five other people were wounded in the attack, they said. Families displaced by the nine months of fighting had been taking shelter in the area.

Copyright Reuters, 2016