A drone strike near the Islamic State group's (IS) de facto Syrian capital Raqa killed a militant commander heading to Aleppo province on orders from the organisation's chief, a monitoring group said Thursday.

The Administrative Court of Alexandria has blocked the demolition of a church belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, in the process issuing a ruling that prohibits the demolition of any church in Egypt.

Arabic-language guide Razan Nassreddine says Syrian refugees visiting Berlin's Museum of Islamic Art often ask her how and when the artifacts clearly marked as stemming from their war-torn country ended up in the German capital.

The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs will publish a book in April dealing with the protection of churches in Islam, according to Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa.

Cairo Criminal Court has handed down harsh jail sentences to 23 denfendants convicted on charges related to the 2013 Maspero clashes, which resulted in at least 10 deaths.

A delegation from Palestinian faction Hamas arrived at Cairo early Wednesday, coming from Doha, to discuss border issues and improvement of relations with the government in Egypt.

A Cairo criminal court sentenced 15 defendants to 25 years in prison in the trial of the so-called "Maspero 2 clashes" that took place in July 2013 following Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's ouster.

Some 13 alleged militants were killed in military raids in restive North Sinai during the past 24 hours, Youm7 quoted security sources Wednesday.

Pakistani authorities detained more than 5,000 suspected militants in two days since a suicide bomber attacked crowds in a busy park in the eastern city of Lahore on Easter Day, killing at least 70 people, a provincial minister said on Tuesday.

A suicide bomber blew himself up on Tuesday morning in central Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 27, a police spokesman said.

Under-fire Belgian authorities hunted a fugitive bomber Tuesday, a week after the attacks on the heart of Europe, as the city's airport warned it could take months to fully reopen despite holding a drill for a partial restart.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt in central Baghdad on Tuesday morning, killing at least three people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State militants group (IS), officials said.

Syrian forces pressed their offensive against the Islamic State group (IS) on Monday, the day after seizing control of the ancient city of Palmyra in a major blow for the militants.

An Alexandria court sentenced on Sunday a police officer to three years in prison for torturing Salafist Sayed Belal to death, his lawyer Maged Ali told Ahram Online. The ruling marks a significant reduction in the convicted officer’s previous prison sentence.

Russian ground forces did not take part in the Syrian army’s operation to drive Islamic State fighters out of the city of Palmyra, but the Russian air force did and it will continue assisting Syrian government troops, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Israel urged its citizens in Turkey on Monday to leave “as soon as possible” in an upgraded travel advisory predicting possible follow-up attacks to the March 19 suicide bombing in Istanbul blamed on Islamic State.

Chiefs of staff of the Islamic coalition formed by Saudi Arabia to counter terrorism highlighted the importance of the military and the exchange of information in fighting terrorism in a Sunday statement.

Sinai Province” claims it killed 15 state-security soldiers by planting explosive devices on roads situated in Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, according to Aamaq, a news agency affiliated with “Islamic State” (IS). The agency reported early Sunday that “Sinai Province” militants intercepted a counter-attack by the Egyptian Armed Forces and captured two tanks.

A bomb disposal unit has dismantled a bomb in Arish. No casualties have been reported. North Sinai security services were notified when an unidentied object was found on al-Bahr street, Arish city. Police troops, a bomb disposal unit and ambulance crew were called to the place where the object was found. The area was cordoned off and traffic blocked for security reasons.

A Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded in northern Iraq on Saturday when rockets fired by Islamic State during clashes with Iraqi Kurdish fighters landed in a base where Turkish troops were deployed, the army said.

Syrian government forces recaptured Palmyra on Sunday, state media and a monitoring group said, inflicting a significant defeat on the Islamic State group which seized the city last year and dynamited its ancient temples.