SANAA: Al Qaeda overran on Friday a key army camp in Yemen’s Hadramawt provincial capital of Mukalla, seizing heavy weapons and consolidating their grip on the city, an official said.

Residents confirmed that the camp, which had remained loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was taken “without resistance”.

Despite the collapse of Mr Hadi’s government, Washington has vowed to carry on its campaign against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Two suspected AQAP militants were killed in an apparent US drone strike in Shabwa province in the south overnight, a tribal source said.

Meanwhile, intense bombing by a Saudi-led coalition hit the country again on Friday, three weeks into an air war against Houthi rebels, as Al Qaeda seized more ground in the chaos.

Columns of smoke rose over an arms depot targeted by warplanes east of the capital Sanaa, witnesses said. The facility belonged to the elite Republican Guard, which remains loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Renegade troops loyal to Mr Saleh are allied with the Houthi rebels, whose sweeping advance forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh last month.

Following heavy overnight air strikes in the north, coalition aircraft also hit the presidential palace in the southern city of Taez, witnesses said.

Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri said that “from this afternoon we have started operations in Taez”.

Speaking in Riyadh, he added that there had been 100 sorties in Yemen on Thursday, indicating that there was no end in sight to the operation.

“This work needs patience, persistence and precision. We are not in a hurry... We have the time and we have the capabilities.”

Air strikes on the port city of Aden killed a rebel, while at least 76 other people died in bombing and fighting around Aden and Taez, officials said.

Former president Saleh has said he will not leave Yemen, dismissing reports that he is seeking a safe exit. “I’m not the type who goes looking for a place to live in Jeddah, Paris or Europe. The person who can say to Ali Abdullah Saleh ‘leave your country’ has not been and will not be born,” he wrote on his Facebook page.Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play