Al-Qaeda overruns town near Yemen capital

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Al-Qaeda militants swept into the Yemeni town of Rada overnight and overran it within hours, marking a significant advance by the extremists towards the capital, officials said on Monday.

The takeover of Rada, 130 kilometres (80 miles) southeast of Sanaa, was the latest in a series of towns and cities – until now in the south and east – to fall as Al-Qaeda takes advantage of a central government weakened by months of protests.

Several sources in the town said more than 1,000 Al-Qaeda gunmen invaded Rada, which is within striking distance of a strategic highway connecting Sanaa with the south and southwest.

"Al-Qaeda has taken over the town and is now the de facto power there," a local official told the media on condition of anonymity. "The government's security forces have retreated to their bases and militants are now manning the checkpoints in and out of the town."

The official said the militants had also seized Rada's central prison and police headquarters. The extremists also took over the intelligence HQ.

According to a local tribal chief, more than 100 prisoners were released, ‘including members of Al-Qaeda’. Two soldiers guarding the prison were killed, officials said.

‘Armed terrorist elements’ broke into ‘the Rada central prison helping a group of prisoners held on criminal charges escape’, defence ministry news website 26sep.net reported.

Two people were killed later during an exchange of fire between gunmen and Al-Qaeda in a central market area, one official said.

A government official also said that ‘10 policemen’ were abducted.

Residents said extremists were patrolling the town in vehicles carrying Al-Qaeda's flag – black with ‘There is no god but God’ printed in white – and pictures of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the network's leader.

"Rada is now an Islamist down," militants announced by loudhailer.

The takeover began late Sunday and was completed by dawn on Monday without significant resistance from security forces, tribal officials said.

"There were barely any clashes at all," one told the media.

Tribesmen have accused the government of complacency and said that despite repeated warnings, the government did little to prevent Rada's fall.

"We've been warning the authorities about the Al-Qaeda threat for months. We told them that their actions and behaviour pointed to their intentions to take over," tribal leader Sheikh Ammar Al-Teiri told the media.

"The government has absolutely no role here any more."