Officials at the prison said they received official directives to free all those who were arrested on suspicion of having links with Al-Qaeda but no indictments were filed against them.  

The decision to release the eleven suspects comes within official orders for the release of 140 inmates accused of having links to Al-Qaeda across the republic.  

It coincides with a recently announced intensive anti-terrorism campaign throughout Yemen after new leaders for Al-Qaeda branches in the Arab peninsula were appointed.  

Meanwhile, President Ali Abdullah Saleh is visiting the provinces of Mareb and Al-Jawf, urging the people in the two provinces to cooperate with the authorities to hunt Al-Qaeda operatives.  

However, the detainees were released on personal promises and bails from their relatives and social dignitaries that they will never commit terrorist acts to destabilize the country and that they will appear in court if they are called by the authorities.  

In 2008, the authorities arrested about 6000 wanted suspects.  

And in the first month of this year, the security forces announced they had arrested further 30 wanted suspects.   

Last month security sources said the security forces foiled an attempted escape by Al-Qaeda detainees at the prison.   

The prison guards discovered some detainees dug a tunnel to the semi-collapsed wall of the prison.  

In February 2006, 23 Al-Qaeda detainees managed to escape from the Central Prison in Sana'a.  

On the other hand, one person was killed and another injured as a warplane struck the area of the Al Saif in Al-Jawf province where wanted bandits and thieves were located, local sources in said.