Militants thought to be al-Qaida storm security building, free prisoners in Yemen port city

Militants free prisoners from security HQ in Yemen

SAN’A, Yemen — Heavily armed men believed to be al-Qaida militants stormed the intelligence headquarters in Yemen’s port city of Aden on Saturday, security officials said, while an eyewitness reported the gunmen later escaped with several freed prisoners.

The security officials said the men — armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers — stormed the central courtyard of the heavily guarded security building in the morning hours and fought their way into its detention facility, where al-Qaida suspects are often held.

The officials declined to say if anyone had been killed or wounded and spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The eyewitness, who works at the building and was outside the premises at the time of the attack, said he saw four gunmen storm the building under a hail of gunfire and explosions. He said a firefight ensued and the attackers managed to make away with several detainees they freed from the facility.

Speaking to The Associated Press over the telephone from Aden, he said he saw at least 10 seriously wounded or dead bodies lying near the building before ambulances came to take them away. The eyewitness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The blatant prison break highlights the challenges Yemen’s U.S.-backed government faces in battling increasingly brazen al-Qaida elements who have found refuge in this impoverished country at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Nearby residents also reported heavy gunfire and plumes of smoke rising from the building, as well as ambulances leaving the area. The eyewitness said the attackers drove up in a car and a minivan, parked by a neighboring hotel and blew up the security building’s entrance with rocket-propelled and hand grenades.

The made their getaway under heavy gunfire, the eyewitness said.

Hospital officials said at least 15 people had been brought to the local hospital in Aden but did not say if any were dead.

U.S. officials are concerned Yemen is becoming the next significant terror staging ground for al-Qaida and say insurgents, including individuals from the U.S., are training in militant camps in Yemen’s vast lawless spaces.

Saturday’s attack comes after a string of al-Qaida prison breaks.

In 2003, 10 men escaped from the same building in Aden, including one later convicted of involvement in the plot to blow up the USS Cole in 2000, killing 17 American sailors in what was one of al-Qaida’s most dramatic pre-9/11 attacks.

And in 2006, 23 prominent al-Qaida prisoners escaped from a different facility, making their way out though a dugout tunnel that emerged in a mosque outside the prison.

That escape boosted the strength of al-Qaida’s offshoot in Yemen, a process that accelerated in January 2009 when it merged with Saudi al-Qaida militants to form al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

(This version CORRECTS day to Saturday, eyewitness unable to say how many prisoners were freed.)