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A woman rests near rubble in the Syrian town of Darat Izza in Aleppo Province on February 28.
A woman rests near rubble in the Syrian town of Darat Izza in Aleppo Province on February 28.

Live Blog: Tracking Islamic State

Follow all of the latest developments as they happen.

Latest News For February 29

-- The United States Army's elite Delta Force is on the verge of beginning operations to target, capture or kill top IS operatives in Iraq, after several weeks of covert preparation, an administration official with direct knowledge of the force's activities told CNN.

-- Syrian government forces have regained control of a road used by the army to access Aleppo, after making advances against Islamic State fighters, a monitoring group and state television reported.


-- Authorities in Iraq say the death toll from a double bombing at a market in Baghdad’s Shi’ite neighborhood of Sadr City rose to 73 on February 29 after several critically wounded victims died overnight.

-- Tajik media are reporting that a woman known to be the second wife of Gulmurod Halimov, the fugitive Tajik colonel who defected to the IS group, has left for Syria along with the couple's four young children.

-- The UN is poised to begin delivering aid to people living in besieged areas of Syria, making use of a truce brokered by the United States and Russia. The first deliveries are planned for Feb. 29, with aid due to reach about 150,000 Syrians in besieged areas over the next five days.

-- A truce negotiated between Syrian rebels and the government has caused a dramatic decrease in airstrikes around rebel-held territory, but there were few celebrations, with many residents suspecting a trick, CNN report.

* NOTE: Live blog posts are time-stamped according to Central European Time (CET).

10:15 23.11.2015

The BBC has tweeted this photo of British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande visiting the Bataclan concert hall in Paris where 90 people were killed on November 13 by IS attackers.

18:22 20.11.2015

This ends our November 20 live blogging of the aftermath of the aftermath of the attacks in Paris and of the hotel siege in Mali. Be sure to check back here on Monday November 23 for our continuing coverage.

For more articles on Islamic State and global terror, please go to our Under The Black Flag blog.

18:01 20.11.2015

The gunmen in the Mali hotel siege sorted hostages by their faith, according to Kassim Traore, a Malian journalist who was in a building about 50 meters from the siege.

The New York Times writes that Traore "said the attackers had told hostages to recite a declaration of Muslim faith as a way separating Muslims from non-Muslims. Those who could recite the declaration, the Shahada, were allowed to leave the hotel."

As the New York Times points out, The Shabab, a Qaeda affiliate in East Africa, used a similar vetting process to differentiate Muslims from non-Muslims in the attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013.

17:49 20.11.2015

U.S. troops were not involved in the raid on the Radisson Blu in Bamako that ended the siege, a U.S. defense official has told ABC News.

17:43 20.11.2015

Sky News has pictures from inside the Radisson Blu in Bamako, Mali where the hostages have now been freed. So far 27 people have been reported killed.

17:29 20.11.2015

Hostages are leaving the Radisson Blu hotel right now, the BBC's Faisal Irshaid has just tweeted.

17:28 20.11.2015

Here is a brief summary of the events at today's hotel hostage crisis in Mali.

-- An unknown number of gunmen -- some reports said two and others said as many as 10 -- stormed the Radisson Blu luxury hotel in Mali's capital Bamako at 0700 GMT today.

-- The gunmen trapped some 170 people in the hotel, including 30 staff. The rest were guests.

-- The gunmen entered the hotel shooting and shouting "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great."

-- Some hostages were reportedly freed after they showed that they could read verses from the Quran.

-- Special forces stormed the hotel to free the hostages.

-- At least three people have been killed including a Belgian Member of Parliament, Geoffrey Dieudonne, who was in Mali to give a seminar to local government officials.

-- There are reports that 27 bodies have been seen at the Radisson Blu.

-- Two hotel attackers have been reported killed.

-- Al-Mourabitoun, a jihadist group affililated to Al-Qaeda and based in northern Mali has claimed responsibility for the attacks but this has not yet been confirmed.

-- Six Americans were freed from the hotel. It is not clear whether any more Americans were inside.

-- U.S. troops assisted with freeing hostages.

-- French special forces were sent to Mali to assist with the response to the siege.

17:25 20.11.2015

Reports are emerging that the death toll from the Mali hotel siege could be as high as 27, though it is not clear how many gunmen have been killed.

17:13 20.11.2015

The BBC has tweeted information about the hostages who were held in the Radisson Blu hotel today.

They included 20 Indians, 10 Chinese, and at least six Americans. Several of the hostages were airline staff including six Turkish Airlines workers, 12 Air France crew and two Russians working for Ulyanovsk airline.

17:10 20.11.2015

More information has emerged about Geoffrey Dieudonné, the Belgian government official who was killed in today's hotel siege at the Radission Blu hotel in Mali.

Dieudonné was on a three-day trip to Mali to give a training seminar to Mali parliamentary officials, the Belgian Parliament said in an official statement.

The exact circumstances of Dieudonné's death remain unknown, the statement added.

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