Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised on Tuesday an unceasing battle against the "terrorist groups" that his regime has accused of responsibility for the deadly violence that has wracked Syria since March.

"We will not waver in our pursuit of terrorist groups," Assad told visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, according to state news agency SANA.

Russia on Tuesday reaffirmed its call for an end to violence and the launch of deep-rooted political reforms in Syria, during a phone call between the two countries' foreign ministers.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem that Moscow wanted to see the launch of "a broad Syrian dialogue" that could help the country find its own way out of the crisis, a Russian statement said.

The European Union has slapped further sanctions on the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, targeting two "economic entities" linked to the Libyan strongman, France said Tuesday.

The measures decided Monday "reinforce the system of international sanctions" already in place against Gadhafi's regime, foreign ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages told reporters.

Tunisia has fired its public prosecutor after a senior ally of the ousted Ben Ali regime was able to leave the country despite facing criminal investigations, the justice ministry said Tuesday.

Justice Minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi had found incompetence on the part of Nejib Maaoui and decided he had to be replaced, a ministry spokesman said.

The speaker of Iraq's parliament on Tuesday called for an end to Syria's deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests, saying the neighboring country must "stop the bloodshed."

"The bloody events occurring in Syria call for us to demand that the Syrian government stop the bloodshed, because the government is responsible for protecting the people," Osama al-Nujaifi said in a statement.

Five members of Iran's security forces including an officer were killed when their vehicle was ambushed by "terrorists" in northwestern Iran, a local official told Fars news agency on Tuesday.

"Five police personnel were martyred... when their vehicle was destroyed" in West Azerbaijan province at midday on Monday, the city of Maku's governor, Hamid Ahmadian, told the agency.

Security forces killed at least 30 civilians on Tuesday in Syria, among them 17 in the eastern protest hub of Deir Ezzor, activists said.

"At least 15 people were killed in different parts of Deir Ezzor which has been raided by tanks and vehicles mounted with machine guns," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, quoting activists at the scene.

Several powerful blasts rocked Libya's capital on Tuesday, as the executive branch of Libya's rebel government was sacked in a political crisis a week after their military chief's assassination.

The explosions in the Fernej district of southwest Tripoli struck at between 1:00 am (23:00 GMT) and 2:00 am, sending flames shooting into the night sky, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

Gunmen shot dead one policeman and wounded another on Tuesday in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, a police official told Agence France Presse.

"Unidentified gunmen opened fire on two policemen who were coming back from work, and then fled," the official said.

Turkey's foreign minister has left for Damascus to press the Syrian leadership into ending the violent crackdown of the five-month old uprising.

Ahmet Davutoglu's visit on Tuesday comes days after Turkey said its patience with its neighbor was running out. Envoys from India, Brazil and South Africa are also slated to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday to appeal for an end to the violence.