Yemen: militants attack prison, killing 7 people
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Heavily armed militants attacked Yemen's main prison in central Sanaa on Thursday, killing seven people and helping a number of inmates to escape, the country's state news agency reported.
The attack started with a car bomb, then militants exchanged gunfire with the guards at the Sanaa Central Prison, and a number of prisoners fled amid the chaos, according to SABA. A security official said authorities suspect it was an inside job.
The news agency didn't identify the dead or say how many inmates fled or what charges they were faced. It added that authorities are investigating.
Witnesses said earlier that explosions rocked the capital and smoke billowed into the sky. Security forces and army troops have been deployed to the site of the attack and sealed off the whole area. The prison, housing thousands of inmates, is on the main road leading to the airport, which was closed.
Security officials say that the attackers came in three groups and three cars, including the car bomb. One group detonated the car bomb, the second joined the first and engaged with prison guards at the front gate while the third dispersed throughout the prison, engaging with security forces outside.
Other militants were firing from rooftops from houses surrounding the prison.
Authorities suspect the attackers received help from inside the prison in order to allow the inmates to break free, one security official said. He added at least three of the prison officials and guards were detained.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Yemen has witnessed major jailbreaks in the past that have fueled militancy, including one in February 2006 when 21 al-Qaida militants dug a tunnel and fled the intelligence prison in Sanaa. Many of those who fled at that time are now the group's most wanted and dangerous men, including its military commander Qassim al-Raimi who is believed to have been behind a series of foiled attacks against Americans.
Three years earlier, 11 al-Qaida militants escaped during another prison break took place when 11 of al-Qaida militants fled, including the suspected perpetrators of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbor that killed 17 American sailors.
Washington considers al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the group's Yemeni offshoot, its most dangerous branch. It seized large swaths of lands in the south before the military launched a major offensive in the summer of 2012, driving many of them out. The group has continued to carry out ambitious and deadly attacks, including storming the Defense Ministry headquarters leaving 56 dead last month, including foreigners.
While the news agency described the attackers as "terrorist group" suggesting an affiliation to Islamic militants, the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh's party said it fears that those who fled were involved in an attempt to assassinate him in 2011.
Abdu al-Janadi, Saleh's party spokesman said, "we are warning of helping prisoners to escape. We are waiting for a transparent investigation into the incident."
Saleh was removed from power in yearlong uprising that started in 2011 and ended after he signed a power transfer deal that gave him immunity from prosecution in return for leaving power in 2012.
During the uprising, he came under attack in his presidential palace that left him with severe injuries which required surgeries in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The prison is houses both suspected al-Qaida militants along with perpetrators of Saleh's assassination attempt.
