Dubai(United Arab Emirates)- An American airstrike in April on a prison run by Yemen's Houthi rebels that killed over 60 detained African migrants should be investigated as a possible war crime, activists said Wednesday.

The call by Amnesty International renews scrutiny on the April 28 strike in Yemen's Saada province. The attack came as part of an intense campaign of airstrikes waged under US President Donald Trump targeting rebels for disrupting shipping through the Red Sea corridor amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The US military's Central Command has yet to offer any explanation for the strike on the prison, which previously had been hit by a Saudi-led coalition also fighting against the Houthis and had been known to hold detained African migrants trying to reach Saudi Arabia through the war zone.

“We take all reports of civilian harm seriously and are working to release the assessment results for Operation Rough Rider soon,” said US Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for Central Command.

Dozens killed

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After the strike, the Houthis displayed debris likely from two, 250-pound precision-guided GBU-39 small-diameter bombs used by the US military, Amnesty said. Survivors interviewed by Amnesty, all Ethiopian migrants detained while trying to reach Saudi Arabia, told the rights group that they saw no Houthi fighters posted inside the building.

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