Aden--Rebel forces penetrated deep into the former southern stronghold of Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi Thursday as Al-Qaeda freed hundreds of inmates in a jailbreak elsewhere in the chaos-hit country.
The push into the heart of Aden comes despite a week of Saudi-led air strikes aimed at preventing the fall of Hadi, who fled to Riyadh last week after losing control of most of the country.
Fighters and tanks of the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and allied army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh were trying to advance on the presidential palace, witnesses said.
"There are bodies and wounded in the streets and nobody dares to approach," said Khaled al-Shaie, a resident in the central neighbourhood of Crater.
The rebels seized the key district of Khor Maksar, home to several foreign consulates and UN offices after clashes with residents and local militia Wednesday that killed at least 19 people.
Two air strikes hit rebel positions overnight, while hundreds of paramilitaries arrived from the neighbouring province of Abyan to support pro-Hadi fighters, an official said.
Hadi fled to Aden from the rebel-held capital in February.
But he went into hiding last week as the rebels advanced on his last remaining bastion and later resurfaced in the Saudi capital.
His aides have said he has no immediate plan to return to Aden.
In the coastal city of Mukalla farther east, Al-Qaeda militants stormed a Hadramawt provincial prison and freed more than 300 inmates, including one of their leaders, a security official said.
Khalid Batarfi had been held for more than four years, the official told AFP.
Two guards and five inmates were killed in clashes, the official said.
Batarfi is among Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) top regional commanders, known for his leading role in a 2011-2012 battle with government troops during which extremists seized large parts of the south and east.
Al-Qaeda militants also clashed Thursday with troops guarding the local administration complex in Mukalla, a branch of the central bank and the police headquarters, the official said.
Fighting also broke out at the harbour and around a presidential palace in the city, security officials said.
The militants met no resistance as they seized the local radio headquarters, the officials said, adding that broadcasting was interrupted.
AFP
