The attack, which hit a wedding celebration in the village of al-Wahga, near the Red Sea, killed at least 30 people on Monday. According to a Health Ministry official speaking to the DPA news agency, the death toll had already topped 75. Yemeni officials have said the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition had been targeting the Houthis, a rebel group seeking to topple the country's current government.

Women and children were among those reportedly killed in the attack, in which at least 40 people died. One official told the news agency that the strikes had been a "mistake."

More than 2,100 civilians have been killed in Yemen since the civil war began in 2011, according to the U.N. The central conflict has pitted forces loyal to the country's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, against those fighting for the internationally recognized government based in Aden.

In an address to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, U.N. General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon railed against "proxy battles" such as the one in Yemen, and called for global unity against brutal extremist groups such as those in the Middle East.

blc/kms (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)