A group of seven Iranian Red Crescent workers who were kidnapped in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi were freed on Sunday, an interior ministry official told Agence France Presse.

"The seven Iranians were freed today and have left the country," said Ezzedine al-Fazzani, a spokesman for the interior ministry in the east.

Algeria's former long-time president Chadli Bendjedid, acclaimed for having introduced democracy to government institutions, died of cancer on Saturday aged 83, APS news agency reported.

Bendjedid had been admitted to the Ain Naajda military hospital in Algiers more than a week ago. He was hospitalized in Paris last January for cancer treatment and returned to hospital for brief spells in May and October.

Gunmen opened fire on the home of a Coptic Christian in the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, hours after a visit by President Mohammed Morsi to reassured Christian residents they would not be targeted again.

Gunmen "used automatic weapons when they opened fire on the house of a Coptic resident of Rafah hours after the president left," a security official told Agence France Presse.

Hundreds of supporters of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party marched on Saturday in the town of Sidi Bouzid, a day after police dispersed anti-government protesters using tear gas, an Agence France Presse journalist reported.

Some 250 people marched through the center of the town, birthplace of the uprising that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year, shouting their support for the Ennahda party and for the regional governor Mohamed Nejib Mansouri.

North African and European leaders will set up an immigration task force following the Arab Spring uprisings, which have seen a sharp rise in people making risky boat crossings to seek a new life in Europe.

The decision was announced at a summit in Malta which brought together the leaders of five European countries (France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain) and five Maghreb states (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia).

The Israeli air force shot down an unarmed and unidentified drone on Saturday after it entered the country's airspace from the Mediterranean Sea, an army spokesman reported.

"An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was identified penetrating Israeli airspace this morning, and was intercepted by the IAF at approximately 10:00 am (08:00 GMT)," a military spokesman said.

Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday appealed for the release of 48 of its citizens held hostage by rebels in Syria and threatened with execution one by one unless Syria's army withdraws from an area in Damascus province.

The statement, relayed by the official news agency IRNA, described the captives as "pilgrims."

The Yemeni army foiled a car bomb attack on the Anad air base used by U.S. soldiers in the southern province of Lahj, a military official told Agence France Presse on Saturday.

"We foiled an attack by a car packed with explosives that managed to breach several security checkpoints leading into the air base," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Syrian President Bashar Assad laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Damascus on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Middle East war, as his troops faced mounting losses at the hands of a domestic uprising.

State television carried pictures of Assad laying the wreath at the monument at Mount Kassioun on the outskirts of the capital.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday appealed for the release of 48 of its citizens held hostage by rebels in Syria and threatened with execution one by one unless Syria's army withdraws from an area in Damascus province.

The statement, relayed by the official news agency IRNA, described the captives as "pilgrims."