Geneva: Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday released 290 prisoners, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, two days after the group claimed to have captured hundreds of Saudi troops following an incursion into Saudi Arabia.
Those freed include 42 survivors of an attack on a detention site in Dhamar in early September that claimed lives of more than 100 people.
The ICRC said it helped confirm the identities of the detainees, determined where they would like to go upon their release, as well as provided financial and medical assistance to them.
“Our medical staff assessed the health condition of the detainees made sure they were fit to travel and made arrangements if they needed extra care,” the ICRC said in a statement.
The development has come two days after the rebel group claimed to have captured hundreds of Saudi troops, including mercenaries from Pakistan, Iraq, and Sudan, during attacks in the southern Saudi region of Najran.
The claim accompanied video footage the group said was of a deadly attack in Najran that killed hundreds of soldiers, with thousands of others surrendering before the armed group, including three brigades of troops led by former-Pakistan Army chief Raheel Sharif.