U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon voiced concern on Sunday over the Syrian regime's shelling of the central city of Homs and urged the government to do everything to maintain a fragile ceasefire.

"I am very much concerned about what has happened since yesterday and today," Ban said after talks with Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo in Brussels.

Libyan leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the council that overthrew Moammar Gadhafi, arrived in Algeria Sunday for a state visit that comes amid a period of strained relations.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and an entourage of senior government officials and foreign diplomats met Abdeljalil at the airport when he arrived around 4:00 pm (1500 GMT), an Agence France Presse photographer said.

Three children were among seven people killed on Sunday in Yemen's restive east and south by suspected al-Qaida militants, security officials said, after three jihadist suspects died in an air strike.

The defense ministry said in a statement on its website that three "local al-Qaida leaders" were killed in a Yemeni air strike late Saturday while a security official told Agence France Presse the raid was conducted by a U.S. drone.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday ordered the release of 19 political activists charged with insulting him during pro-reform demonstrations last month, a palace official said.

"The king instructed the government to take all necessary measures as soon as possible to release the jailed activists," some of them from the southern city of Tafileh, he told Agence France Presse.

Bomb attacks killed five people in Iraq on Sunday, including three members of a family whose house was blown up north of the capital, security officials said.

"Unknown gunmen planted three bombs around a house made of mud and reeds in the Taji area, causing it to completely collapse and killing a father, mother and five-year-old boy," an interior ministry official said.

Egypt's political leaders met on Sunday after next month's presidential election was thrown into turmoil with key candidates disqualified and the fate of a new constitution hanging in limbo.

Military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi met the heads of 17 political parties and groups and MPs to discuss major developments ahead of the first presidential poll since a popular uprising ousted long-time leader Hosni Mubarak last year.

Syria warned on Sunday that its forces will respond to "intensified" rebel attacks, even as U.N. military observers were headed for the unrest-hit country to monitor a shaky ceasefire.

"Armed terrorist groups have intensified their attacks in a hysterical way against the army, law enforcement forces, and civilians, in conjunction with the approval of the U.N. Security Council resolution to send monitors to Syria," a military official said, quoted by state television.

Arab foreign ministers of the Gulf are to hold a special meeting in the Qatari capital on Tuesday to discuss the islands dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, an official source said.

A Gulf Cooperation Council official said earlier that the meeting would take place in Riyadh but the GCC finally said it will be held in Doha.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Iraq's policy of non-interference in Syria and opposition to arming either side is in the country's best interest, in an interview with Kurdish newspaper Awena.

Thousands of people have been killed in a crackdown by President Bashar Assad's regime on a 13-month uprising against his rule but Iraq has strongly opposed proposals from Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to arm rebel fighters.

Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, killing two officers and wounding another, a security official told Agence France Presse.

The gunmen opened fire on the checkpoint near the town of al-Arish, instantly killing policemen Mohammed Fawzi and Mohammed Mosleh, both 21.