57 al Qaeda suspects escape Yemen jail

SANAA, Yemen - Security officials say 57 militants, mostly from al Qaeda, have escaped from a prison in southern Yemen.

They say the 57 were among 62 inmates from the Mukalla jail in the Hadarmout province who escaped Wednesday through an underground tunnel.

Bands of gunmen attacked the prison simultaneously, opening fire on the guards from outside to divert their attention away from the escape.

One guard was killed and another wounded in the attack, said the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Wednesday's escape was the latest sign that Yemen's months-long upheaval has emboldened al Qaeda militants to challenge authorities in the country's nearly lawless south.

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The chaos in Yemen represents a direct threat to the U.S., if the vast majority of common knowledge about al Qaeda's present and future plans is even vaguely accurate. The Yemen-based branch of the group, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is one of the most active by far.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers noted earlier this month that with Osama bin Laden dead, al Qaeda remains hell-bent on attacking the U.S. homeland, and three of the plots launched against America in recent years were hatched in Yemen.

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"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is strictly, or has been strictly focused on attacks in the U.S. homeland," Rogers told ABC on June 16. "This morning, when you're over your breakfast cereal there is somebody in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula planning another attack in the U.S."