Sana’a - Around 1 200 prisoners escaped during clashes at a jail in central Yemen on Tuesday, among them al-Qaeda suspects, officials and security sources said.
“Groups of al-Qaeda supporters ... today attacked the central prison in the city of Taiz and more than 1 200 of the dangerous prisoners escaped,” state news agency Saba quoted a security official as saying.
Another local official told Reuters some of the escapees were “suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda” but said they left amid heavy clashes between warring militias in the city.
Reuters