ALGIERS -- Nine people were killed and two others were injured when two vehicles collided in the eastern province of El Oued near the border with Tunisia on Friday, the official Algeria Press Service said on Saturday.

The injured passengers had received first aid on the spot before being taken to the local hospital, said Civil Protection Commander Ahmed Badji.

The accident occurred 10 km from the village of Douilet in the town of Ben-Guecha and an investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances and causes of this accident. (Algeria-Road-Accident)

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TEHRAN -- Iran's Navy has thwarted a pirate attack on an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, Iranian Press TV reported on Saturday.

Unidentified pirates attacked the ship on Friday, but facing the fire from the Iranian Navy's 80th fleet they fled, the Navy said in a statement.

The Iranian vessel is now sailing to its designated destination, it added.

Over the past years, Iran's Navy has managed to foil several attacks on both Iranian and foreign vessels in international waters. (Iran-Cargo ship-Pirates)

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GAZA -- Hamas, the militant organization ruling the Gaza Strip, warned on Saturday against what it calls Israeli settlers' plan to "storm" the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Jewish Temple Mount groups called on Jews to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday to celebrate the annual Second Passover holiday, which this year coincides with the Nakba Day, or Day of the Catastrophe, marked by the Palestinians on May 15 every year, the day after Israel's declaration of independence in 1948.

"Allowing the so-called Temple Mount groups to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday when the Palestinians mark their 74th Nakba Day is a dangerous escalation and constitutes a provocation toward the feelings of our people," Hazem Qassem, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told reporters. (Israel-Palestine-Conflicts)

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TUNIS -- The Tunisian Maritime Guard rescued 81 illegal immigrants of different nationalities off the country's southeast coast, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.

"The rescue operation took place off the El Kutf coast in the province of Medenine when a unit of the naval guard managed to rescue the illegal immigrants from a sinking boat sailing to the Italian coasts," said a ministry statement.

"These illegal immigrants aged between 20 and 38, included 38 from Egypt, 32 from Bangladesh, 10 from Sudan, and one from Morocco," it added.

According to the statement, the rescued people said they sailed on Friday night from Libya toward the Italian coast. (Tunisia-Immigrants-Rescue)