Refugee agency says more than 35,000 people displaced by Yemen fighting

More than 35,000 people have been displaced in Yemen’s Omran province, a local government refugee agency said on Wednesday, a day after Shi’ite Muslim tribal fighters overran the provincial capital following fighting that killed more than 200 people. In an urgent appeal sent to relief organizations operating in Yemen, the head of the Yemeni government refugee agency in Omran reported “mass flight of Yemenis from Omran and surrounding areas after the city’s fall”. “Based on the monitoring and follow-up that we have been doing, there are more than 35,000 people that have left for other areas in Omran or to the greater Sanaa area, Hajja and Mahaweet,” Mutahhar Yahya Abu Sheeha wrote in his appeal. “We direct this urgent appeal to help these families and to provide emergency help to ensure basic needs of shelter and food and medical aid, and to help get these trapped families,” he said.