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Shiite rebel TV station says its fighters seize Yemen air base where US advised al-Qaida fight

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 file photo, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, President of Yemen, sits after addressing the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. Yemen's embattled president fled his palace in Aden for an undisclosed location Wednesday as Shiite rebels offered cash bounty for his capture and arrested his defense minister. Hadi left just hours after the rebels' own television station said they seized an air base where U.S. troops and Europeans advised the country in its fight against al-Qaida militants. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012 file photo, President Yemen Abdo Rabby Mansour Hadi briefs the media after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, unseen, at the chancellery in Berlin. Yemen's embattled president fled his palace in Aden for an undisclosed location Wednesday as Shiite rebels offered cash bounty for his capture and arrested his defense minister. Hadi left just hours after the rebels' own television station said they seized an air base where U.S. troops and Europeans advised the country in its fight against al-Qaida militants. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) (The Associated Press)

Houthi Shiite fighters wearing an army uniform chant slogans during the funeral procession of victims who were killed last week from triple suicide bombing attacks that hit a pair of mosques in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

A television station run by Yemen's Shiite rebels says Houthi fighters and their allies have seized an air base where U.S. troops and Europeans advised the country in its fight against al-Qaida.

The satellite Al-Masirah news channel reported Wednesday that the fighters had "secured" the al-Annad air base. It claimed the base had been looted by both al-Qaida fighters and troops loyal to embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Officials loyal to Hadi had no immediate comment.

The U.S. recently evacuated some 100 soldiers, including Special Forces commandos, from the base after al-Qaida seized a nearby town. Britain also evacuated soldiers.

The base was crucial in the U.S. drone campaign against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which America considers to be the most dangerous branch of the terror group.