8.56am GMT

Hello and welcome to Middle East Live. Here is a summary of the latest developments:

Algeria

Nearly 24 hours after Islamist gunmen stormed a natural gas pumping station, little was certain beyond the claim by a group calling itself the "Battalion of Blood" that it was still holding 41 foreign nationals – including Americans, Japanese and Europeans – deep in the Sahara, Reuters reports. Algerian troops were reported to be surrounding the facility as Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, confirmed one Briton had been killed and "a number" of others were being held hostage. Algerian media said an Algerian was killed in the assault; local reports said a Frenchman had died.

Syria

Three car bombs killed at least 24 people in the north-west of the country on Wednesday as rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad's regime mounted a co-ordinated assault on government positions. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said car bombs at government buildings and a checkpoint in Idlib province killed mostly members of government forces. The state news agency, Sana, said 22 people were killed in Idlib city and two other bombs were defused on a main road. Elsewhere, government forces stepped up attacks in Idlib, Hama and Homs and seized hundreds of missiles from militants in southern Deraa province, state media reported.

Egypt

A spokesman for Mohamed Morsi said inflammatory comments the president made about Jews before taking office were intended as criticism of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians and had been taken out of context, the New York Times reported. The statement was Morsi’s first public response to reports in the same paper that as leader of the Muslim Brotherhood he had made antisemitic statements three years ago, urging listeners “to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews".

Iraq

More than 35 people were killed in a suicide attack and other bombings in northern Iraq and Baghdad, prompting fears of worsening sectarian fighting as the prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, comes under growing pressure from minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds. A car bomb and a suicide bomber in a truck set off huge blasts in Kirkuk, where local health officials and police said at least 25 people were killed and more than 180 wounded, Reuters reported.