More Than 1,000 Prisoners, Some Al-Qaida, Escape Yemeni Prison
TAIZ, Yemen, June 30 (UPI) — Up to 1,200 prisoners, including al-Qaida suspects, escaped from a prison in the central Yemeni town of Taiz on Tuesday, according to officials.
The circumstances surrounding the mass escape are unclear, with some sources suggesting they were freed after al-Qaida supporters attacked the facility and other saying the escape occurred after guards retreated amid fighting between Houthi rebels and their opponents.
One such strike killed 44 people and wounded more than 100 on June 7, one day after the Shia Muslim-affiliated Houthis say they shot three Scud missiles at an air base in Saudi Arabia.
The prison break comes less than two weeks after al-Qaida operatives in Yemen reportedly killed two suspected U.S. spies and hung their corpses from a bridge alongside a banner that translated to “The House of Saud directs American planes to bomb the holy warriors.”
Two days prior, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula confirmed the death of one of its high-ranking commanders in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.
The admission came one day after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a cease-fire in Yemen through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which goes from June 18 to July 16
Earlier this month the United Nations estimated total casualties in the Yemen conflict have surpassed 2,600, with more than 1,400 being civilians.
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