Two soldiers were killed and five others injured Saturday in an explosion in Okene city in Nigeria's central Kogi state, an army spokesman said, adding that they were part of the contingent set to be deployed to Mali.

"We lost two soldiers while five others were wounded when the IED (improvised explosive device) planted on their route went off and hit their convoy," Major General Bola Koleoso told Agence France Presse.

West African leaders Saturday called for greater international involvement in Mali as they met to speed up the deployment of regional troops to boost a French-backed offensive to halt an Islamist onslaught.

The emergency summit in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan was also attended by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who clearly said it was time for the Africans to take over and "as soon as possible", adding that this was "the aim of our meeting."

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday renewed his call on Congress to pass a series of measures aimed at reducing gun violence, but also reaffirmed his commitment to the right to bear arms.

"My administration is taking a series of actions right away - from strengthening our background check system, to helping schools hire more resource officers if they want them, to directing the Centers for Disease Control to study the best ways to reduce gun violence," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Saturday the United States would "take all necessary steps to protect our people" from the threat of al-Qaida-affiliated militants in Africa.

Discussing the Algerian hostage crisis in a BBC interview, Panetta commended France's military operation against Islamists in Mali and said Washington would assist other countries in trying to stop them making a base in the region.

Islamists were holding a number of foreigners hostage at a gas plant deep in the Algerian desert on Saturday, nearly 48 hours after a failed rescue attempt killed at least 12 of them, a security source said.

Al-Qaida-linked gunmen said after Thursday's rescue raid they still held seven foreigners -- three Belgians, two Americans, one Japanese and a Briton -- inside the sprawling Sahara complex in northeast Algeria near the border with Libya.

The official tasked with running the Guantanamo military tribunals has rejected a prosecution recommendation to drop one of the counts faced by several detainees charged in the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Pentagon said Friday.

Brigadier General Mark Martins had asked the Pentagon authority overseeing the trial to drop the charge of conspiracy, while keeping intact other counts against the defendants accused in the murders of nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Authorities were working Friday to repair a dike that collapsed amid floods that swamped the Indonesian capital as the waters gradually receded from the main streets of the teeming city.

But more monsoon rains were expected over Jakarta later Friday into Saturday, raising the prospect of fresh flooding, said Fadli, an official at the country's meteorology agency who goes by a single name.

Falkland Islanders will be asked specifically whether they want the archipelago to retain its status as a British overseas territory in a referendum on March 10 and 11, its government announced.

Confirming the date and the final wording of the question, the referendum is intended at sending Argentina an unambiguous verdict from the 3,000-odd islanders, amid tension between London and Buenos Aires over sovereignty.

The United States and China have made a deal under which the U.N. Security Council will expand existing sanctions against North Korea for staging a ballistic missile test, envoys said Friday.

The deal was struck after weeks of intense negotiations following the December 12 launch. The talks have involved U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, according to envoys.

The White House and the U.S. Defense Department are at odds over the danger posed by radical Islamic groups that have taken control of parts of Mali and are stirring up trouble in other parts of West Africa, The Los Angeles Times reported late Friday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the newspaper said the events in Mali and neighboring Algeria have prompted sharp debate within President Barack Obama's administration over whether these radicals present enough of a risk to warrant a military response.