Yemeni security forces were on Saturday hunting for suspected al-Qaida gunmen who abducted a Swiss woman this week with no immediate leads in sight, a security official said.

"We are pursuing our search but so far we have not been able to locate where the Swiss woman is being held or know anything about her fate," a security official in southern Shabwa province told Agence France Presse.

Yemeni security forces and unknown gunmen clashed Saturday in the southern port city of Aden, wounding two policemen and a civilian, a security official told Agence France Presse.

The gunfight erupted in the city's Mualla neighborhood a day after a member of the al-Qaida-linked Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) was arrested in the same district, the official said.

Libya wants Mauritania to extradite Abdullah al-Senussi, the arrested spymaster of slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, the government said on Saturday.

"Telephone calls are underway by Libyan authorities to request his extradition," spokesman Salah al-Manaa told a news conference in Tripoli.

A top Israeli official vowed Friday to "prevent Iran from acting" if it seeks to use a nuclear weapon, amid growing impatience over Tehran's refusal to come clean on its nuclear program.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned on a visit to Argentina that a nuclear-armed Iran would have "ramifications throughout the world" and allow Tehran to "achieve hegemony in the Middle East.

Two huge bomb blasts killed at least 27 people in Syria's capital on Saturday, sparking anger at Riyadh and Doha, as special envoy Kofi Annan warned of regional fallout from the year-long bloodshed.

State television said the early morning "terrorist" attacks, apparently car bombings timed minutes apart, had targeted police headquarters in the Duwar al-Jamarek area and air force intelligence offices in al-Qasaa district.

Militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets into southern Israel on Friday, officials said, as a fledgling truce in and around the Palestinian territory firmed up.

"One rocket hit an empty field in the Eshkol region, causing no damage or injuries," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence France Presse.

Clashes pitting backers and opponents of federalism in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed one person and wounded at least five on Friday, a medical official said.

"One person was killed and at least five others were wounded," Basma Mohammed told Agence France Presse.

Special envoy Kofi Annan warned of an "escalation" of the Syria conflict into the rest of the Middle East unless it is carefully handled as he called on the U.N. Security Council to unite to put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.

Annan gave his warning as Turkey told its nationals to leave Syria where thousands took part in new protests against the government. Activists said at least another 15 people were killed.

A Palestinian protester was bitten by an Israeli army attack dog during a protest in the West Bank village Kafr Qaddum west of Nablus on Friday, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman acknowledged to AFP that a demonstrator was "lightly wounded" by the dog.

Foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Friday she will maintain the European Union's diplomatic presence in Damascus regardless of decisions taken by member states on their own needs.

"The issue of diplomatic representation in the country is of course under constant review by the member states, but there is no common line at this time," said Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann.