Human Rights Watch says Saudi-led coalition naval forces have killed dozens of Yemeni fishermen, including children, and arrested more than 100 others, some of whom were tortured in custody in Saudi Arabia in 2018.

The New York City-based leading rights group said on Wednesday that Saudi-led warships and helicopters killed at least 47 Yemeni fishermen in bombing attacks on fishing boats last year. Seven children were among the dead.

“Coalition naval forces repeatedly attacked Yemeni fishing boats and Yemeni fishermen without any apparent determination that they were valid military targets,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, acting emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “Gunning down fishermen waving white cloths or leaving shipwrecked crew members to drown are war crimes.”

Human Rights Watch further noted that the Saudi-led coalition also detained, apparently without charge, at least 115 fishermen, including 3 children, in Saudi Arabia for between 40 days and more than two and a half years.

Saudi Arabia led and launched a military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of exiled president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power. Houthis ousted Hadi early 2015, and he fled to Saudi Arabia at the time.

-Agencies