Riyadh (AFP): The Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen launched an investigation Tuesday following international condemnation of an air strike that Doctors Without Borders said killed 11 people at a hospital it supports.

More than 19 people were also wounded in the raid that hit the hospital in Abs, in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja, the Paris-based aid agency said, adding that one of its staff was among the dead.

The coalition launched the bombing campaign in March last year after the Shiite Al Houthi rebels and their allies seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula nation, including the capital Sana’a.

It stepped up the air strikes earlier this month after peace talks between the rebels and President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally backed government were suspended.

Doctors Without Borders, widely known by its French acronym MSF, said the attack was the fourth on one of its facilities in less than a year.

A Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), formed from members of the coalition dominated by Riyadh and its Gulf Arab allies, said it was aware of the reports and “has urgently launched an independent investigation”.

The JIAT will “obtain more information from MSF and will publicly announce the findings” of the probe, it said.

The 14-member JIAT was set up as a standing investigation team following mounting criticism of the civilian death toll from the bombing campaign.

It earlier this month acknowledged “shortcomings” in two of eight cases it investigated of air strikes on civilian targets in Yemen.

It said the coalition had “mistakenly” hit a residential compound and an MSF-run hospital, but accused the rebels of having used the hospital as a hideout.

The team is also investigating Saturday’s strikes on the school in the rebels’ northern stronghold of Saada. The coalition denied it had targeted the school, saying it bombed a training camp and that the rebels were using child soldiers.

The rebels formed the 10-member council late last month, in a move that put an end to the three months of UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait.

A UN envoy has described the ruling body as a violation of commitments to the peace process.

The coalition resumed air strikes on Sana’a on August 9, less than 72 hours after the talks were suspended, with one raid reported to have hit a food factory in the city during working hours, killing 14 people.

The resumption forced the closure of Sana’a airport, but its director Khalid Al Shayef said three flights were due to arrive later Tuesday with humanitarian aid.

The conflict has devastated already impoverished Yemen. The UN says more than 6,400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since March last year and more than 80 per cent of the population is in need of humanitarian aid.