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 Aden .
Security officials later confirmed fall of the palace .