Israeli authorities warned citizens on Saturday to leave Egypt's Sinai peninsula immediately because of a "critical and immediate threat" of a terrorist attack.

"All Israelis in the Sinai are called upon to leave the region and return to Israel," said a statement from the anti-terrorist bureau.

Yemen's air force raided al-Qaida hideouts in the south, killing eight militants, the defense ministry said Saturday, raising to 40 the number of jihadists reportedly killed in two days.

"The Yemeni air force carried out two air strikes that targeted al-Qaida positions on Friday... killing eight militants and wounding dozens," said the ministry's news website26sep.net.

The opposition Syrian National Council renewed on Saturday its call for the United Nations to intervene militarily in the country to put a stop to "crimes" by President Bashar Assad's regime.

"We call anew on the U.N. Security Council to act with all urgency to intervene militarily to bring an end to the crimes committed by the bloody regime against the unarmed Syrian people," said a statement received in Beirut.

Syria has released 30 people who were detained for their alleged role in an anti-regime uprising, but who have "no blood on their hands," state media said on Saturday.

The move takes to nearly 4,000 the number of people who have been released by the authorities since November, after they had been taken into custody for the same reason, news agency SANA reported.

Bombs exploded in two minibuses in Baghdad on Saturday, killing three people and wounding at least 12, while a bomb attack on a governor's convoy wounded two guards, security officials said.

An interior ministry official said the bombs in the minibuses exploded about 8:30 am (0530 GMT) near a Shiite place of worship in the Chikouk area in north Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 12.

The U.N. Security Council has reached a tentative accord on a resolution to send a 300-strong ceasefire observer force to Syria which could be voted Saturday.

Russia's U.N. ambassador called for a "unanimous vote" on the text his country took a leading role in drawing up.

Saudi Arabia beheaded and crucified a Sudanese man in Riyadh on Friday after he was convicted of raping, robbing and killing a woman, the interior ministry announced.

Abdulrahman Zine Elabidine "broke into a house strangling its owner to death while she was asleep."

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday said that it would likely contribute observers to the U.N. mission in Syria.

"I think OIC countries will contribute to the observer (mission) to be sent by the U.N.," OIC head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in Libreville during a meeting of information ministers of the 57-member pan-Muslim body.

The last 10 pro-Palestinian activists who were in Israel as part of the "flytilla" campaign were on Friday deported to France, an interior ministry spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

"Ten French pro-Palestinian activists were released from the prison in which they were detained and boarded a plane bound for Paris at 1300 local time (1000 GMT)," Sabine Haddad said.

The leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region vowed Friday he would not allow Kurdish separatists to stage attacks in Turkey from northern Iraq, local media reported.

"We will use all methods including pressure" to deter the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from launching cross-border attacks, Massud Barzani said, according to the CNN-Turk television.