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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).

10:59 13.1.2016

The Daily Telegraph's Louisa Loveluck says her contact in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya has said that people there are scared that hunger will return soon.

11:04 13.1.2016

Turkey is investigating how a militant from Syria managed to carry out a suicide attack killing mainly German tourists yesterday.

The Daily Sabah newspaper said that the bomber, identified as 28-year-old Nabil Fadli, entered Turkey as a refugee on January 5. He was fingerprinted by the Turkish migration service, which is apparently why the authorities were able to identify him so soon after the attack.

11:12 13.1.2016

Russia's Foreign Ministry has reacted to remarks made yesterday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow was seeking to create a "boutique state" in Syria's Latakia province.

A source in the Foreign Ministry said that the remarks were "utter nonsense."

Russia had for years insisted that "Syria should be a sovereign, democratic, secular and integrated state," the source added.

11:21 13.1.2016

Turkey's interior Minister Efkan Ala is holding a joint press conference with his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere in Istanbul.

Ala says that nine of those wounded in yesterday's suicide bombing in Istanbul are Germans. Two are in critical condition.

11:24 13.1.2016

Turkey's Interior Minister Ala says one person has been detained over the bombing in Sultanahmet.

11:41 13.1.2016

The January 12 suicide bombing in Istanbul's Sultanahnet district was the deadliest attack on Germans abroad in 13 years, CNN reports.

The attack killed ten people, at least eight of whom were Germans, according to CNN.

11:47 13.1.2016

Turkey's Interior Minister says that the suicide bomber who carried out yesterday's attack in the Sultanahnet district was not being tracked by police.

11:49 13.1.2016

Turkey's Interior Minister confirms that 11 people died in yesterday's blast in Sultanahnet -- ten people plus the suicide bomber himself.

A further 11 people are still in hospital after being wounded in the attack. Nine of those are Germans and two are in a critical condition.

12:04 13.1.2016

Turkey's Hurriyet news site is reporting that the Sultanahmet suicide bomber has been identified as a "Saudi asylum seeker."

There was some confusion yesterday over whether the bomber -- named as 28-year-old Nabil Fadli -- was a Syrian or a Saudi who had come to Turkey from Syria.

However, Hurriyet is citing security sources as saying the bomber was a Saudi national.

Fadli applied for asylum to the Zeytinburnu Migration Management Directorate in the Istanbul district on January 5. He had arrived at the center with four other men and then stayed for a few days at his declared address.

In a rather grisly revelation, Hurriyet says Fadli was identified after one of his finger tips was found at the attack site.

12:28 13.1.2016

A teenage supporter of the IS group who slashed a teacher with a machete in southern France has said he was "proud" of his actions, AFP reports.

A source close to the investigation said that the 15-year-old boy had said he was "ashamed" that he did not manage to kill the 35-year-old teacher, Benjamin Amsellem.

"I don't represent Daesh [IS], they represent me," the teenager reportedly told investigators.

The boy is set to appear before a judge today on terrorism charges.

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