UNITED NATIONS -- An estimated 1,297 civilians have been killed and 3,227 others injured in Yemen as a result of the conflict between March 26 and June 7, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Wednesday, citing the latest figures released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR).
"Meanwhile, a health office warehouse in Taizz city was hit by shelling yesterday, destroying thousands of medical kits, mosquito nets and other health supplies, according to humanitarian partners," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.
Figures on the causalities are not easily coalesced given the volatility on the ground and the lack of an organized effort to register victims, reports said.
The UN has repeatedly stressed that many of those injured and killed do not pass through health facilities, meaning the actual toll could be higher.
The United Nations never stopped its efforts to bring all warring parties to the negotiation table as violence escalated in Yemen over the past months.
UN-brokered peace talks are due to take place in Geneva of Switzerland on June 14, aimed at ending weeks of conflict which have killed more than 2,000 people.
The humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been described as " catastrophic" by the United Nations with 20 million civilians -- 80 percent of the population -- in need of aid.
The announcement came as witnesses reported that Saudi-led warplanes hit Yemeni rebels and their allies in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, in the first strikes on the rebel-held capital since the end of a five-day humanitarian truce Sunday.
The Saudi-led coalition has waged an air war on the rebels since late March in an effort to restore the authority of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who is now based in Riyadh.
Yemen has been mired in political gridlock since 2011 when mass protests forced former President Ali Abdullash Saleh to step down.
The three-year reconciliation talks failed to resolve the crisis but create huge power vacuum that could benefit the powerful al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and other extremist groups.
Yemen is the base of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a powerful offshoot of the jihadist militant group that has carried out similar suicide attacks on Houthi supporters.
However, the terrorist Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIL or ISIS, is also gaining ground in the country. Enditem
