A suspected al-Qaida gunman opened fire on a minibus carrying staff members from a military hospital in Yemen's main southern city of Aden on Sunday, killing eight people, an army official said,

The attacker used an assault rifle to rake the army minibus with gunfire, the official said. Two women were among the dead while 12 other staff members were wounded.

Militants from jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have executed dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members, according to photos posted online.

The authenticity of the photos, which were shared on Twitter and elsewhere and said to have been taken in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, could not be independently confirmed.

Syria's army said on Sunday it had recaptured the strategic town of Kasab, near the only border crossing with Turkey in Latakia province, after it fell to rebels almost three months ago.

"After crushing many members of the mercenary terrorist gangs... units of our armed troops in collaboration with the (paramilitary) National Defense Force returned safety and security to Kasab this morning," an army statement said.

An Iraqi air strike hit a convoy of Kurdish forces which have moved into an area of eastern Iraq during a militant offensive, killing six fighters, officers and a doctor said Sunday.

It was not immediately clear if the Saturday night attack near Khanaqin, which also wounded some 20 others, was specifically targeting the Kurdish troops or a case of mistaken identity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused the Islamist Hamas movement of kidnapping three teenagers as a massive West Bank manhunt for the missing youths entered its third day.

As troops wrapped up the biggest arrest operation in years, detaining 80 Palestinians overnight -- many of them Hamas members -- Netanyahu pointed the finger of blame directly at the Islamist movement.

Former U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said Sunday the unrest sweeping Iraq stemmed from the international community's negligence of the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Jihadist-led militants launched a lightning offensive on Monday, advancing to within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Baghdad's city limits and bringing Iraq's security forces to the brink of collapse.

Iran warned on Sunday that "any foreign military intervention in Iraq" would only complicate the crisis, after the U.S. said it was deploying a warship in the Gulf.

"Iraq has the capacity and necessary preparations for the fight against terrorism and extremism," foreign ministry spokesman Marzieh Afkham was Sunday quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

Australia's foreign minister will meet ambassadors angered by the country's decision to stop referring to East Jerusalem as "occupied", Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday as he stressed there was "no change in policy".

Australia has been warned of possible Arab trade sanctions after last week's move, which Attorney-General George Brandis said was made because the term "occupied" carried pejorative implications and was neither appropriate or useful.

Afghans queuing at ballot boxes this weekend can be forgiven some foreboding about their country's future amid the chaos now being unleashed in Iraq almost three years after U.S. troops withdrew.

While the political, ethnic and security situations in the two countries are vastly different, both nations have been at the center of U.S. wars, both are plagued by a homegrown insurgency and both still suffer from weak institutions vital to ensure stability and growth.

The United States is "committed" to supporting Iraq as it battles Sunni militants who have seized a swathe of the country's north, Secretary of State John Kerry told his Iraqi counterpart Saturday.

President Barack Obama said he was "looking at all the options" to halt the offensive that has brought the militants within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of Baghdad's city limits, but ruled out any return of U.S. combat troops. A U.S. carrier group was ordered into Gulf waters.