A worldwide alert has been issued by Interpol for 23 prisoners, including 13 convicted al-Qaida members, who escaped from jail in Yemen, constituting "a clear and present danger to all countries."

Among those being sought is Jamal Ahmed Badawi, the mastermind of the attack on the Navy ship USS Cole in 2000. Badawi had originally been sentenced to death for his role in the attack on the U.S. warship that killed 17 American sailors, but his sentence was later commuted to 15 years in prison. Also on the loose is Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabeei, one of those responsible for attacking the French tanker Limburg in 2002.

The world's largest international police organization says the escape from a Yemen prison took place on Friday and involved a 140-meter tunnel dug by the prisoners and co-conspirators outside.

"Their escape cannot be considered an internal problem for Yemen alone," said Ronald Noble, secretary general of Interpol, who is urging member countries to take precautionary measures at borders.

"I feel very uneasy about this development," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told CNN. "We have so-called allies in the world that are saying they want to help us, and yet how do 23 people 'escape'? It raises some terribly difficult questions."

She added: "It really makes our job harder. Now intelligence has to work on something they didn't think they had to work on."

According to Reuters, the tunnel was believed to have been dug from a mosque to the prison.

"The tunnel entry was in the women's section of the mosque, less frequented than the male section because women mainly pray at home," Reuters reported.