At least five Al-Qaida prisoners escaped from the central prison in Yemen's western, port city of Hodeida on Tuesday, two days after the escape of ten terrorist suspects from the central prison in the southern port city of Aden, Almasdar Online reported, quoting a security source.
The website did not report details about the prison break, coinciding with reports about the fleeing of Al-Qaida operatives to Oman after the army defeated Al-Qaida and cleared all militants from Abyan province.
Two months ago, two prisoners, who were arrested on suspicion of links with Al-Qaida, escaped from the Aden prison. One of the two was sentenced to death.
Several jail breaks have been reported in Yemen in recent years, mainly by terrorist suspects.
About 93 inmates including 88 terrorist suspects escaped from Yemeni prisons since June 2011, triggering doubts about the measures taken by the authorities to guard the jails.
In June 2011, about 63 Al-Qaida suspects escaped from the central prison in Mukalla city of Hadramout and in December about 13 terrorists from the central prison in Aden.
Years ago, tens of Al-Qaida suspects including senior leaders escaped from the central prison in the capital Sanaa through a tunnel they dug to outside the prison.
In the past few months, the forces launched a US-backed offensive and cleared Al-Qaida militants, retook their strongholds in Abyan province, in a major victory under the new government.
The offensive has been continuing to hunt the remaining militants in other provinces amid fears Al-Qaida may think to reseed or to intensify suicide bombings.