Bomb and grenade attacks north of Baghdad on Wednesday killed three people -- two children and a policeman -- and wounded 17 other people, officials said.

A series of 11 apparently coordinated blasts targeting security officers rocked the restive central city of Baquba, 60 kilometers north of Baghdad, on Wednesday morning, an official in the provincial security command center and a doctor at the city's hospital said.

Iran has demanded the release of seven of its nationals who were abducted last month in restive Syria, media reported Tuesday.

"According to the last information we have, they are in good health and we are trying to obtain their release," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

Most of the 10,000 Filipinos working in strife-torn Syria have refused to leave despite mounting violence in the country, the Philippine foreign minister said Wednesday.

Albert del Rosario said he tried to convince more Filipinos to leave during a recent visit to Syria, but "I did not see too many people who were enthusiastic about being repatriated."

The White House on Tuesday condemned the Syrian regime's unrelenting violence against protesters, saying it was "past time" for the U.N. Security Council to take actions against Damascus.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Syria had failed to comply with standards set by Arab observers monitoring the situation, adding that "as sniper fire, torture, and murder in Syria continue, it is clear that the requirements of the Arab League protocol have not been met."

An Arab League observer mission currently in strife-ridden Syria "remains useful" even if it cannot impose an Arab peace plan in the country, the leader of the main opposition group said Tuesday.

"We believe that this mission remains useful even if it does not lead to the implementation of the Arab plan," Syrian National Council (SNC) leader Burhan Ghalioun said after talks with Portugal's foreign minister.

Arab foreign ministers working on the Syrian crisis will meet in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the first report by an observer mission in Damascus, the Arab League said on Tuesday, as fresh violence killed 10 civilians and 18 regime troops, according to activists and a rights watchdog.

"The Arab League committee on Syria will meet Saturday at the Arab League headquarters," Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Ben Hilli told reporters.

A Syrian media rights group on Tuesday demanded a full inquiry into the death of a journalist who was reportedly shot in the head by gunmen waiting for him outside his Damascus home.

Shukri Ahmed Ratib Abu Burghul died on Monday in a Damascus hospital from gunshot wounds suffered on December 30, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

Syria's ruling Baath party said Tuesday that it will hold its 11th party congress next month as it faces an unprecedented popular uprising demanding its leadership resign.

"The regional command of the Baath Arab Socialist Party has decided to hold its 11th regional congress during the first week of February," the official Al-Baath newspaper reported.

Armed clashes erupted in the center of the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday, killing two, as gunmen traded anti-aircraft and heavy machinegun fire, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, Al-Arabiya television reported that six people were killed in the fighting.

Egyptian prosecutors on Tuesday portrayed ousted president Hosni Mubarak as a "tyrannical leader", as they made their opening arguments in his murder trial.

The ailing 83-year-old former strongman, who was wheeled into court on a stretcher, is accused of involvement in the deaths of protesters during the uprising that overthrew him in February.