The Islamic State group said it was behind a deadly car bomb attack on Italy's consulate in the Egyptian capital Saturday, and warned Muslims to stay away from such places.

Health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said the powerful early morning blast that shook central Cairo killed a civilian and wounded nine people, including policemen and passers-by.

A Franciscan priest serving in northern Syria has been released after almost a week in the hands of allegedly jihadist kidnappers, his church announced on Friday.

The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, with which he is affiliated, said on its website that Father Dhiya Aziz, a parish priest at Yacoubieh, in the northwestern province of Idlib, was apparently "treated well" during his ordeal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday visited relatives of a citizen reportedly held captive by Hamas after a top aide apologized for telling them he would suffer if they went public.

Avraham Mengistu is one of two Israelis whose suspected detention in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was revealed Thursday after a gag order was lifted.

Tunisian security forces killed five suspected jihadists on Friday in the country's central Gafsa region, an interior ministry spokesman said.

"Five terrorists were killed" in Jebel Orbata, Walid Louguini told AFP.

Denmark followed Britain's example on Friday in urging its nationals to cut short their holidays in Tunisia after London warned the country was still unsafe after last month's beach massacre.

Tunisia's prime minister said he would telephone British counterpart David Cameron to discuss London's advice which he said would have consequences on the North African nation, heavily dependent on tourism.

U.N. experts said Friday that almost 5,500 Tunisians are fighting alongside jihadists abroad, urging Tunis to adopt a "national strategic plan" to curb the flow.

"The number of Tunisian foreign fighters is one of the highest among those traveling to join conflicts abroad such as in Syria and Iraq," said Elzbieta Karska, current head of a U.N. working group on the use of mercenaries.

Four children and a woman were killed Friday when a mortar round crashed into their home in North Sinai, where the Egyptian army is battling jihadists, officials said. 

Security and medical sources said the woman and the children, aged between six and 16, died in Sheikh Zuweid, near North Sinai's main town of El-Arish.

Islamic State group fighters attacked Iraqi police and soldiers in an area considered a major staging ground for operations to reconquer Anbar province, security sources said.

IS fighters used suicide car bombs to attack government and allied forces in Khaldiyah, a town in the Euphrates valley that lies between Fallujah and Ramadi, Anbar's two main cities.

Aid agencies scrambled Friday to rush desperately needed relief supplies to millions of Yemenis threatened with famine amid guarded hopes for a six-day truce due to begin just before midnight.

The United Nations on Thursday announced a six-day ceasefire from 11:59 pm (2059 GMT) Friday until the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on July 17.

Algerian authorities have arrested 38 people in connection with deadly ethnic unrest between Berbers and Arabs in the south of the country, police and the gendarmerie said Friday.

Police also said a hunting rifle, dozens of knives and Molotov cocktails were seized during a probe into unrest in the southern province of Ghardaia that left 22 people dead on Tuesday.