An explosion outside a chamber of commerce building in Turkey's southern resort city of Antalya wounded several people on Tuesday but the mayor said there were no life-threatening injuries and the blast may have been an accident.

They have escaped the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul but hundreds of Iraqis seeking refuge in neighbouring war-torn Syria are now trapped on the border under militant fire.

Iraqi forces advancing on Mosul faced stiff resistance yesterday from the Islamic State militant group despite an unprecedented wave of air strikes by the US-led coalition in support of the week-old offensive.

The Islamic State group’s beleaguered Libyan stronghold of Sirte has been devastated by months of fighting, the second time in five years it has been wrecked.

Yemeni street artists are daubing the capital’s walls with haunting images of war and starving children in an effort to highlight the impact conflict is having on the country’s population.

Kuwait still needs to do more to combat the financing of militants, a top Kuwaiti official said yesterday at a meeting aimed at choking off funding for the Islamic State group.

Belgium’s Queen Mathilde visits Al Zaatari refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan, yesterday.

Sixteen civilians, including three children, were killed yesterday in heavy bombardment across rebel-held Idlib province in northwest Syria, a monitoring group said.

Nearly 100 civilians have been killed in a two-month offensive by Turkey and allied rebels in northern Syria, a monitoring group said on Monday.

Iraqi security forces on Monday ended an attack by the Islamic State group in Kirkuk city, killing at least 74 jihadists in three days of clashes, the provincial governor said.

Israel's air force hit a Hamas post in the Gaza Strip on Monday after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave toward Israel, the military said.

Iraqi forces battled Sunday through booby-traps, sniper fire and suicide car bombs to tighten the noose around Mosul, while also hunting Islamic State group jihadists behind attacks elsewhere in the country.