The death of an ailing woman student at a Saudi university has stirred controversy on social media after an ambulance was denied access under the conservative Muslim kingdom's segregation laws.

Amna Bawazeer, 24, died of a heart attack in the compound of the social sciences faculty of Riyadh's King Saud University.

Syrian troops retook Friday most of Aleppo's prison, lost to rebels a day earlier, in fighting that has killed at least 46 people over two days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

But the fate of hundreds of prisoners reportedly freed after Islamist and jihadist fighters overran the facility was unclear, with suggestions that they may not have been able to flee amid the fighting.

Five Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army gunfire Friday near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources said.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory, said the five men were in their early twenties.

Syrian troops on Friday retook most of Aleppo's prison, after losses a day earlier, in fighting that killed at least 47 people in two days, a monitoring group said.

But it was unclear if hundreds of prisoners had been able to flee, as reported on Thursday after Islamist and jihadist fighters had overrun the facility.

Security forces braced for protests Friday against Libya's protracted political transition following the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with fears of more violence after an overnight attack on army headquarters.

Tensions have risen after a decision by Libya's highest political authority, the General National Congress, to extend its interim mandate.

Tunisia celebrated Friday the adoption of a new constitution three years after the revolution, a landmark in getting its troubled transition back on track and hailed as a model by foreign leaders.

A ceremony at the national assembly, where the constitution was adopted on January 26, burnished Tunisia's positive image in contrast with other Arab Spring nations, such as Libya and Egypt, which remain plagued by instability and political turmoil.

Workers at the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency in the West Bank have ended a two-month strike over low wages and poor conditions that paralyzed services in camps and shut down schools.

The United Nations has already said the cash-strapped agency was struggling to pay thousands of workers, while the IMF has warned of the danger of rising unemployment in the Palestinian territories if there is no progress in U.S.-backed peace talks.

Attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital killed nine people on Friday, including a supporter of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who was standing in April's parliamentary election.

The murder of Hamza al-Shammari, the first of an election candidate, comes amid a protracted surge in bloodshed with near-daily attacks nationwide and security forces battling anti-government fighters in Anbar province.

Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Muqdad, said on Friday that Damascus will take part in a second round of peace talks in Geneva due to start on February 10.

"It has been decided that the delegation of the Syrian republic will take part in the second round of negotiations in Geneva," state news agency SANA quoted Muqdad as saying.

Six Egyptian policemen were wounded in a bomb attack in Cairo on Friday, hours before clashes between police and Islamist protesters in several cities killed at least one person, officials said.

The attack shattered a tense calm in the capital after a spate of bombings on January 24 killed six policemen, in an escalation of a militant campaign following the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.