SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Al-Qaida gunmen shot dead four soldiers Wednesday in one of the militants’ former south Yemen strongholds, officials said, as the local governor declared that the country’s ill-equipped police force is incapable of filling the security void left by months of clashes.

The militants staged a bold pre-dawn attack on a security building in Jaar, one of several cities in the south that they captured in 2011 while taking advantage of a popular uprising in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation. Witnesses said men stormed the building with automatic rifles. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.