Gunmen raid police station in Sanaa, free 14 prisoners

Unknown gunmen raided a police station in Yemeni capital Sanaa on Saturday and set free 14 prisoners, a security official and witnesses said.

The gunmen launched the attack on the police station in Sabeen quarter in the evening, opening fire at the policemen and damaging two police vehicles before they entered the building, the official told Xinhua.

The prisoners whom the gunmen helped release had been arrested for selling weapons and drugs in the black market.

The gunmen also looted 15 AK-47 rifles, said the official on condition of anonymity.

No casualties were reported from the attack as the police guards did not resist the attackers, said the eyewitnesses.

Sanaa has been under tightened grip of Shiite Houthi rebels since the rebels stormed the city in September 2014.

The security situations, however, have since been widely deteriorated.

The rebels' move has triggered an all-out civil war after the Houthis captured all the government institutions and much of the northern provinces before they forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee into exile in neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The war has killed over 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and displaced 3 million, according to UN aid agencies.

The war also caused the spread of deadly cholera disease and put around 25 million into the brink of mass famine.