Suspected Jewish extremists have vandalized Palestinian property in the West Bank in an apparent revenge attack for the killing of an Israeli soldier and evacuation of a settler outpost, police said Thursday.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse that "a number of suspects went into the village of Burqa" east of the Palestinian political capital of Ramallah, "and attempted to set fire to three vehicles".

Egyptian officials say a suicide bomber has rammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint outside a coastal city in volatile Sinai Peninsula, killing three soldiers and a policeman.

The security officials say the attack happened on Thursday outside the city of al-Arish.

Saudi authorities beheaded a citizen in the western province of Taif on Thursday after he was convicted of shooting dead another man, the interior ministry announced.

Saad bin Shbat al-Subaie was executed for shooting dead fellow tribesman Mughnem bin Mohammed al-Subaie, the ministry said in a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called Thursday for the immediate release of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Thursday after he was seized by gunmen from a hotel in Tripoli.

"I condemn the abduction of the Libyan prime minister in Tripoli this morning and call for his immediate release," Hague said in a statement.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was freed Thursday after being held by gunmen for several hours, in the latest sign of the country's lawlessness since Moammar Gadhafi's 2011 overthrow.

The premier appeared in good health when he arrived at government headquarters after his ordeal at the hands of former rebel militiamen, waving to waiting well-wishers as he climbed out of an armored car.

After months of foot-dragging,the United States Wednesday suspended deliveries of major military hardware and cash assistance to Egypt to signal deep concern over the mounting bloodshed and the lack of a democratic transition.

Washington said it had stopped shipments of some large-scale military systems as well as halting $260 million in cash aid to Egyptian military leaders, who are currently running the country after ousting its first democratically elected president.

An Algerian blogger has been detained for posting cartoons on the Internet mocking President Abdelaziz Boutelifka, and is due to stand trial for "contempt" and "defending terrorism", his lawyer said Wednesday.

Abdelghani Aloui, 24, has been held in custody since September 25 and faces several charges, including "attacking the person of the president", Amine Sidhoum told Agence France Presse.

Flash floods killed seven people in Algeria on Wednesday, five of them in a normally arid region bordering the Sahara, emergency services said.

Two rivers burst their banks in Djelfa, 330 kilometers (205 miles), south of Algiers, on the escarpment where the High Plateaus of the center give way to the deserts of the south, the APS news agency reported.

Scores of Syrian rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad were killed in fierce fighting Wednesday south of Damascus, where the army pressed a major offensive, an NGO said.

The fighting, between rebel brigades and regular troops, supported by pro-regime militia and elements of Hizbullah, took place in the areas of Husseiniyah, al-Thiyabiyeh and Bouaydah, as government warplanes pounded the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The United States is poised to suspend much of its military aid to Egypt due to Cairo's sweeping crackdown against supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The decision would hold up the delivery of major weapons, including Apache helicopters, F-16 fighter jets and M1A1 Abrams tanks, officials told Agence France Presse, confirming overnight U.S. media reports.