Al-Qaida storms Yemeni prison, senior militant set free

SANAA, Yemen, April 2 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida militants stormed a Yemeni prison Thursday, freeing up to 300 prisoners including a senior al-Qaida figure.

Attackers took control of buildings that included the city's Central Prison, Central Bank and a radio station in the early morning attack, officials said. Government troops arrived to fight back, but most of the militants had fled by then.

Two guards and five prisoners were killed in the attack.

Khalid Batarfi, a senior al-Qaida figure who had been in prison for more than four years, was among the hundreds freed from the prison in Hadramawt province, authorities said.