Syrian troops killed a would-be suicide bomber in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, a day after devastating bomb blasts in Damascus, state television reported.

"Syrian authorities have foiled an attempted suicide attack in al-Shaar area of Aleppo and killed the would-be attacker," the channel said.

More than 1,000 Jordanians, mostly opposition Islamists, demonstrated on Friday demanding elected governments and "radical" reforms, and criticizing newly appointed Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh.

Marching in central Amman after midday prayers, the protesters, including youths and trade unionists, carried banners reading "we want to reform the regime, radical change and elected governments."

The Algerian regime hailed a "remarkable" turnout as polling officials tallied votes Friday for legislative elections expected to hand a bigger share of power to moderate Islamists.

Turnout had been expected to be very low after a campaign that produced no new faces and failed to draw crowds, but the interior minister announced a relatively high figure of 42.9 percent after polling closed Thursday.

The European Union is set to slap new sanctions on Syria, imposing an assets freeze and visa ban on two firms and three people, EU diplomats said Friday.

They said the measures targeting "mainly sources of revenue for the regime" would be decided at talks between EU foreign ministers next Monday.

Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who faces trial in absentia in Baghdad on charges of running a death squad, is in Ankara for medical treatment, media reported Friday.

Hashemi, who is the subject of a Red Notice issued by the international police agency Interpol, travelled from Istanbul to Ankara on Thursday for treatment at a military hospital, private NTV television said.

Syrian forces killed at least 13 people as tens of thousands of protesters defied regime gunfire and took to the streets on Friday, a day after twin bombings killed dozens of people in Damascus, a monitoring group and activists reported.

Four people were killed in the central province of Hama, two in the northeastern province of al-Hasakeh, two in the southern province of Daraa, one in the central province of Homs and one in the northern province of Aleppo.

Egyptians abroad began voting on Friday for their first president since veteran leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year, less than two weeks before polling stations open in the country.

They have until May 17 to cast their ballots in embassies and consulates. Voting in Egypt will take place on May 23 and 24, with a rerun in June if none of the 13 candidates wins a majority in the first round.

Iran on Friday condemned the latest deadly bomb blasts to reel its ally Syria in a 14-month-old uprising and accused Western powers of orchestrating them.

"The terrorist acts were guided by (global) arrogance and the enemies of free nations," First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said, quoted by state news agency IRNA, using the Islamic republic's term for Western powers.

Bahrain police fired tear gas and birdshot during overnight clashes with protesters demanding the release of jailed opposition activists, wounding several demonstrators, witnesses said on Friday.

The clashes broke out in Shiite villages around the capital Manama when hundreds of demonstrators flooded the streets chanting anti-regime slogans and calling on the authorities to release the prisoners, the witnesses said.

The Syrian regime is trying to destroy the U.N.-brokered peace plan aimed at ending 14 months of conflict, opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun told reporters in Tokyo on Friday.

"The regime is now trying to kill this (Kofi) Annan plan, and by a new technique which is terrorism," Ghalioun said, a day after suicide bombers killed at least 55 people in horrific attacks in Damascus.