Yemeni rebels have seized President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi 's palace on the same day Al-Qaeda militants freed hundreds of inmates in a jailbreak . Security officials said member of Al-Qaeda stormed a Hadramawt provincial prison in southeast Yemen and freed more than 300 inmates , including one of their leaders Khalid Batarfi . Batarfi is among Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula 's top regional commanders , known for his leading role in a 2011-2012 battle with government troops during which extremists seized large parts of the south and east . Rebels : Armed Houthi members raise their guns aloft while shouting anti-Saudi slogans during a rally protesting airstrikes carried out by a Saudi-led coalition , yesterday . Two guards and five inmates were killed in clashes , the official said . Elsewhere , the advance by Iran-backed rebels into Aden , the last bastion of Hadi supporters came despite a week of Saudi-led air strikes . A senior security official who witnessed the advance said : 'Dozens of Houthi militia and their allies arrived in armoured troop carriers and entered Al-Maashiq presidential palace ' . Heavy clashes erupted afterwards between the rebels and their opponents inside the compound . A defence ministry official in Aden later confirmed the fall of the palace , saying it was now controlled by forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh , which have allied with the Huthis . Escalating : Damage caused by reported Saudi-airstrikes . Reports today say Yemeni rebels have seized President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi 's palace . War-zone : Yemenis walk around the damage caused by an airstrike allegedly carried out by a Saudi-led coalition against a Houthi rebels position in the city of Yarim . The rebels have seized swathes of the country including the capital Sanaa . At least 44 people , including 18 civilians , were reported dead in fierce fighting between opponents and supporters of Hadi in the southern port city today . 'There are bodies and wounded in the streets and nobody dares to approach , ' said Khaled al-Shaie , a resident in the central neighbourhood of Crater . Hadi fled to Aden from the capital after the Huthi Shiite rebels seized power in February , and the palace came under fire from warplanes twice during his stay . Carnage : A Yemeni man inspects his house damaged by an airstrike allegedly carried out by a Saudi-led coalition , yesterday . Today , rebel forces seized President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi 's palace . He went into hiding last week as the rebels bore down on what was his last stronghold , later surfacing in the Saudi capital as Riyadh launched an air war on the rebels . Saudi Arabia announced Thursday its first casualties since launching the offensive , with one soldier killed and 10 more wounded by gunfire from across the Yemeni border . Rights groups have expressed alarm at civilian casualties , including in an air strike on a camp for displaced people and the bombing of a dairy . Several dozen people were killed in both incidents . `` All sides in Yemen 's conflict need to do what they can to avoid harming civilians , '' said Joe Stork of New York-based Human Rights Watch . In the southern province of Dhaleh , Huthis killed 40 rebel fighters who tried to desert after their commander urged them to lay down their arms because of the intense air strikes , military sources said . Diplomats in New York said Gulf countries were locked in tough negotiations with Russia on a UN draft resolution to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on the rebels .
300 inmates including Al-Qaeda leader freed during breakout at jail . Two guards and five inmates killed in clashes . 44 people , including 18 civilians , reportedly killed in city of New York . Security officials later confirmed fall of the palace .