SANAA (AFP) – Three members of the Yemeni security forces were killed when armed men attacked an intelligence services building in the southern city of Aden on Saturday and freed prisoners there, witnesses said.

They told AFP that three security men were killed and a woman was wounded when five men attacked the building with rocket-propelled grenades, grenades and machine guns, and that ambulances were at the scene.

The witnesses said the assailants were able to enter the building and “were seen leaving the building, taking people who had been detained there with them.”

Local authorities, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the building in the Al-Tawahi district near the port came under fire at 0440 GMT, and that the attack may have been the work of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).