Saudi-led coalition strike kills Yemen judge and 7 family members

A Saudi-led coalition strike killed a senior Yemeni judge and seven members of his family at their home in the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa, one of his relatives said on Monday.

"Judge Yehia Mohammed Rubaid, his son, three women, and three children where killed when a missile hit their home," his nephew Ahmed Mohammed told reporters.

Speaking in front of the debris of the destroyed house in central Sanaa, Mohammed said the attack was carried out overnight by coalition jets, which have been pounding rebels almost daily since March last year.

He said his uncle had presided over a court specialising in "terrorism cases" which tries suspects accused of links to Al-Qaeda.

Photos were posted to Twitter showing the aftermath of the bombing raid.

Houthis have controlled the capital Sanaa since September 2014, when they swept down from their northern highlands unopposed before expanding across other parts of the country.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia formed an Arab coalition aimed at pushing back the Houthis and reinstalling the exiled government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

The coalition has since pounded Yemen from the air and on the ground, drawing accusations from human rights groups that war crimes have been committed. 

Over 7,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition began its bombing campaign, with the UN saying around half of casualties have been civilians.

Yemen is facing a severe humanitarian crisis and the UN says that over 80 percent of the country's 25 million people require some form of humanitarian assistance.