Around 1,200 escape from Yemen prison, including al Qaida suspects

The prisoners escaped Tuesday after guards deserted their posts amid fierce fighting between Shiite rebels and their opponents, officials said. A security official said the jailbreak in the southwestern city of Taiz came after its main prison was caught in crossfire between southerners fighting for autonomy or outright independence and the rebels, known as Houthis, who are backed by army units loyal to a former president. The incident is the biggest in a series of prison breaks that have freed Yemeni militants in recent years and signals the further erosion of the state amid a raging civil war.

Heavy fighting took place near the central prison and the popular committees approached and seized control of the area, but Saleh’s forces opened the prison doors.

Prison security official

Another group of al Qaida militants escaped from a prison in the eastern city of Mukalla in April after army forces suddenly quit the city. Al Qaida and other hardline Sunni groups condemn the Houthis as apostates worthy of death, and the two groups are fighting each other in several areas in central Yemen. Saudi-led airstrikes meanwhile targeted convoys carrying militiamen sent to reinforce the Houthis and allied forces in the eastern province of Marib, where the rebels are battling Sunni tribesmen, officials said. The airstrikes and ground fighting have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than a million amid severe shortages of water, food, fuel and medical supplies.

Middle East Yemen