Militants from Al Qaeda ’s affiliate in Yemen tightened their grip on this coastal city in the country’s south on Friday, driving soldiers away with mortar fire so that the city was left undefended, witnesses said. The Qaeda fighters first entered Al Mukalla on Thursday and seized crucial government buildings, including a presidential palace. On Friday, residents fled to the outskirts of the city, as military commanders and their troops abandoned their bases, leaving behind American-made Humvee vehicles and other equipment to be seized by looters or the advancing fighters from the affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The storming of Al Mukalla, Yemen’s fifth-largest city, was the group’s boldest attack since the start of a military offensive led by Saudi Arabia against the Houthis 10 days ago. The relative ease with which the militants captured large parts of the city raised fears of […]