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An air strike has hit a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in northern Yemen, killing at least 11 people, the medical charity says.

Another 19 people were injured in the attack in Abs, in Hajjah province, believed to have been carried out by the Saudi-led coalition which is backing Yemen’s government in its fight against Houthi rebels. The coalition has not yet commented. Local people said the hit follows days of air raids in the area.

The first rescue workers to arrive at the scene had to move cautiously, fearing that the circling planes might attack again. The blast immediately killed nine people, including an MSF staff member, MSF Yemen tweeted. Two more patients died while they were being transferred to another hospital, it added.

The conflict in Yemen that began in 2015 has left more than 6,400 people dead, half of them civilians, and displaced 2.5 million others, according to the UN.

MSF said more than 4,600 patients had been treated at the Abs hospital since MSF began supporting it in July 2015. A spokesman for the United Nations said the organisation was aware of the latest reports from Yemen and was trying to gather some details.

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The US says it has sent 15 Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United Arab Emirates – the largest single transfer during President Barack Obama’s administration.

The Pentagon says the transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans brings the total number of prisoners down to 61 at the US facility in Cuba. The released inmates had been held without charge, some for over 14 years.

President Obama wants to close the prison before he leaves office.

The jail was opened by former US President George W Bush in January 2002 to accommodate foreign terror suspects after the 11 September attacks in 2001 and the subsequent US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Some 779 men have been brought there since it opened.

Why Does Obama Want To Close It?

The president says its existence harms partnerships with countries whose help the US needs in fighting terrorism. He says Guantanamo Bay is contrary to US values, undermining the nation’s standing in the world – a standing based on support for the rule of law. Most inmates there have not been charged and, in February, Mr Obama lamented that “not a single verdict has been reached” on those there that have. He also believes the facility fuels the recruitment of jihadists. It’s also expensive to run – $445m (£345m) annually.

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An Iranian dual national has been arrested on suspicion of spying for the British intelligence services, Iran’s state news agency reports.

Irna quoted Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dowlatabadi as saying the suspect had “been active in the economic field, related to Iran”. Mr Jafari-Dowlatabadi did not name the individual or give their second nationality. There was no immediate comment from the UK Foreign Office.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained at least six other dual nationals since last year and accused them of security-related offences. They include the British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested at Tehran’s airport in April as she tried to return to the UK after a holiday with her two-year-old daughter, Gabriella. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe told the BBC on Monday that the allegation that she was involved in trying to overthrow the regime in Iran was “absurd”.

Mr Jafari-Dowlatabadi announced last month that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe faced trial by a Revolutionary Court – a closed-door tribunal which handles security-related cases – along with US-Iranian businessman Siamak Namazi, Canadian-Iranian academic Homa Hoodfar and Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese permanent resident of the US.

Iran does not recognise dual nationality, which prevents relevant foreign diplomats gaining access to citizens being detained.

Kurdish forces in Iraq say they have captured several villages near Mosul from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group, the last major city the militants hold in the country.

The offensive began at dawn on Sunday, backed by air strikes from the US-led coalition battling IS. Kurdish and Iraqi government forces have been encircling Mosul ahead of an offensive to take the city itself. Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, has been under IS control since June 2014.

The militants reportedly responded to the air strikes by trying to ram explosive-packed vehicles into Kurdish lines.

A Kurdish commander said that more than 5,000 troops were involved in the latest operation. Clashes are said to be ongoing. It comes as the Iraqi government is trying to advance from the south. No date has been given for when the operation to retake Mosul will begin.

The northern Iraqi city was from where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate – a state governed in accordance with Islamic law. The loss of Mosul would mark the effective defeat of IS in Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says.

The UN has warned that the final battle for Mosul could spark “the biggest, most sensitive humanitarian crisis in the world”.

Right-wing protestors dressed in mock Muslim outfits and chanting anti-Islamic slogans have stormed a church service on Australia’s east coast.

The protestors interrupted a service held at Gosford Anglican Church on the Central Coast of New South Wales state.

A group of about 10 people entered the church and pretended to pray while playing Muslim prayers over a loudspeaker. Local police are investigating what the church described as a “racist stunt”.

The Party for Freedom posted photos and video of the incident on social media, claiming it was a demonstration against the church’s support for Islamic leaders and multiculturalism. The organisation has ties to Senator Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigration One Nation party, which has won four seats in Australia’s Senate. “We want to share Islam with you, this is the future,” one of the protesters said in the footage. “This is cultural diversity, mate. The rich tapestry of Islam that we’d like to share with Father Rod, and the congregation, and the social justice agenda we hear all the time.”

More than 24 hours after the altercation, One Nation released a statement saying that it did not have any official affiliation with the Party For Freedom.

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