Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, May 2

RABAT -- Citing Tehran's support to separatists in Western Sahara, Morocco announced on Tuesday to sever ties with Iran, only a few years after normalizing their diplomatic relationship.

In a statement to the press, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said his country will expel the Iranian ambassador to Morocco and close its embassy in Tehran over Iran's backing of Western Sahara's separatist movement the Polisario Front. (Morocco-Iran-Ties)

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VIENNA -- The UN nuclear agency IAEA on Tuesday reiterated that no evidence was found in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009.

"The same report stated that the Agency had no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009," said the International Atomic Energy Agency in a statement of Iranian nuclear issue, saying that its consideration of this issue was closed. (IAEA-Iran-Nuclear)

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TIKRIT, Iraq -- Unknown gunmen attacked houses in a town in Iraq's central province of Salahudin on Tuesday, leaving 16 people killed and four others injured, a provincial security source said.

The attack took place in the evening when gunmen armed with machine guns attacked three houses for families in 14th Ramadan village south of town of Dujail, some 60 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed al-Jubouri from Salahudin's provincial police told Xinhua. (Iraq-Attack)

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DAMASCUS -- Airstrikes carried out by the U.S.-led coalition killed 25 civilians in Syria's northern province of Hasakah on Tuesday, state news agency SANA reported.

The airstrikes targeted civilian homes in the village of Fadel in the city of Shadadi, southern Hasakah, said the report, adding that women and children were among the victims as tens of others were wounded. (Syria-Airstrikes) Enditem