The U.S. military's top officer Sunday defended the pace of the air war against Islamic State jihadists, warning that escalating bombing raids or sending in more American troops would be a mistake.

During a visit to a French aircraft carrier in the Gulf taking part in the air campaign, General Martin Dempsey appealed for "strategic patience" in the fight against the IS group in Iraq and Syria.

Nine jihadists with the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, among them four foreigners, were killed on Sunday in a U.S.-led coalition air strike in Syria near the Turkish border, a monitor said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll may rise as more bodies may be buried under rubble.

A Cairo schoolboy died on Sunday after being severely beaten by his teacher who has now been suspended, Egypt's education ministry said as an inquiry was launched.

Corporal punishment is common in Egyptian schools, where official negligence has been blamed for the deaths in late 2014 of two children in accidents because of badly maintained equipment.

The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday it will try a Kuwaiti Islamist ex-MP in absentia for allegedly "inciting sedition" in remarks he made about Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince.

Mubarak al-Duwailah has been referred to the Federal Supreme Court, the UAE's top court, for "allegedly abusing religion to incite sedition, harm national unity, (and) disturb social peace," WAM news agency reported Attorney General Salim Saeed Kubaish as saying.

At least 40 Kurdish fighters and Islamic State group jihadists have been killed in clashes for control of a strategic town in north Syria, a monitor said on Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that 11 civilians were killed in a government air raid on the rebel-held town of Irbin northeast of Damascus.

A young Iranian woman accused of marrying -- and divorcing -- 10 men in less than two years under an elaborate con trick has been charged with fraud, state media reported Sunday.

The alleged deception was made possible under Islamic rules that entitle a woman to a financial sum agreed before marriage but retrievable "on demand" any time after a ceremony takes place.

Two activist groups say Syrian government airstrikes on a rebel-held suburb of the capital have killed at least 10 people.

The Local Coordination Committees activist collective and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say Sunday's air raids targeted the Arbeen district just east of Damascus.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a public appearance Sunday amid rumors about his health, as a relative dismissed the claims as gossip meant to derail ongoing nuclear talks with world powers.

State television aired pictures Sunday of the 75-year-old Khamenei addressing a group of environmental officials and activists at his residence in central Tehran. He appeared to look comfortable and healthy in the footage.

A Canadian special forces soldier was killed in a friendly fire incident after he and others ignored an order to stay in their car and showed up to the front line unannounced, a spokesman for Iraq's Kurdish forces said Sunday.

The death Friday of Sgt. Andrew Joseph Doiron marked Canada's first casualty as part of the U.S.-led coalition's war on the extremist Islamic State group. Canadian officials could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday on the peshmerga claim, though Canada's defense minister previously acknowledged Doiron's death came as a result of "a case of mistaken identity."

Nigeria's Boko Haram is the latest militant organisation to swear allegiance to the Islamic State group, demonstrating what analysts say is the jihadist network's growing ability to attract new backers.