For Thursday's updates, click here.

7:35 P.M. NATO: Airstrikes alone not enough to defeat ISIS

Air strikes alone will not be enough to defeat Islamic State militants and greater Western help in building up Iraqi security forces could also play a role, the head of NATO said on Friday.

The United States leads a coalition of countries that has been carrying out air strikes against the Islamist militants who have seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.

NATO as an organisation is not involved but individual allies participate in the coalition.

"I welcome that (participation) and I think that is important, even though I don't believe that air strikes alone can solve the problem," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference. (Reuters)

6:40 P.M. Saudi authorities delay flogging of blogger for 3rd week

Authorities in Saudi Arabia delayed the planned flogging of a blogger convicted of insulting Islam for a third straight week Friday in the face of growing international pressure against the punishment, according to rights group Amnesty International.

Raif Badawi underwent the first of 20 what were supposed to be weekly flogging sessions of 50 lashes on January 9 in the Red Sea city of Jiddah. Two subsequent planned floggings were postponed after doctors in the kingdom examined the 31-year-old and determined he should not face the punishment as scheduled.

Amnesty spokeswoman Sara Hashash told The Associated Press that the London-based rights group had been informed that Friday's planned flogging also did not happen, though it was unclear why. Badawi was not medically examined this week as happened previously, she said. (AP)

4:04 P.M. Two U.S. citizens shot at in Saudi Arabia, one injured

A U.S. citizen was shot and wounded in eastern Saudi Arabia, state news agency SPA reported, adding to security concerns in the world's top oil exporting nation.

A vehicle carrying two U.S. citizens came under fire in the Eastern Province district of al-Ahsa, one of the main centres of Saudi Arabia's minority Shi'ites, SPA said, citing a police statement. It was not clear who shot at the vehicle.

The wounded man was taken to hospital and was in a stable condition, it added.

Saudi officials are concerned about the spread of sectarian strife from the conflicts in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Some leading clerics of Saudi Arabia's official Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam view Shi'ites as heretics.

In the last attack on Saudi soil targeting Americans, a gunman killed a U.S. citizen and wounded another in the capital Riyadh last October.

In November, seven Shi'ite Muslims were shot dead in al-Ahsa as they marked their holy day of Ashoura. Saudi Arabia has arrested the four main suspects and said it believes it was ordered by Islamic State militants from abroad

Qatif, another centre of the Saudi Shi'ite minority alongside Al-Ahsa, has been a focus of anti-government demonstrations in support of Shi'ites who complain of discrimination. The Saudi authorities deny any discrimination. (Reuters)

3:20 P.M. Attacker opens fire at Istanbul police post, no casualties

A woman armed with a machinegun opened fire on a police post in Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Friday but initial reports suggested there were no casualties, Turkey's NTV television reported.

NTV said the attacker left her weapon at the scene and escaped on foot, and that some police vehicles were damaged in the attack. Police officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The attack comes just over three weeks after a suicide bomber blew herself up at a police station in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district, killing one officer and wounding another. (Reuters)

1:50 P.M. Syrian opposition fighters blow up tunnel under army post in northwest Syria

Activists say Syrian opposition fighters have detonated a large amount of explosives in a tunnel under an army post in the northwestern province of Idlib, inflicting heavy casualties on the government troops.

Idlib-based activist Ibrahim Ismail says the blast was followed by intense clashes as the rebels launched an attack to retake the Arbaeen Mountain area early on Friday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting is some of the most intense in months, adding dozens of Syrian troops have been killed and wounded.

The Observatory said the main rebel factions taking part in the attack include Suqour al-Sham as well as the Al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front. (AP)

12:14 P.M. Senior Kurdish military commander killed in clashes with ISIS in Iraq

Officials say a senior Kurdish military commander and eight Kurdish fighters have been killed in clashes with Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.

Brig. Khatab Omar says Brig. Gen. Shirko Fatih was killed as he was leading Kurdish peshmerga troops in a battle against IS extremists early on Friday outside the city of Kirkuk.

He says at least eight Kurdish fighters were killed during the clashes.

Omar says IS militants attacked the peshmerga fighters' positions south of Kirkuk, which is located 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.

The casualties come as Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops, with Islamic State militants now in control of about a third of the country. (AP)

11:55 A.M. At least 44 killed in twin bombing in Baghdad, Iraq

A twin bombing targeting a market in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday killed at least 44 people, Iraqi media reported.

Around 70 were wounded in the back-to-back bomb explosions in the market of al-Bab al-Sharqi district in central Baghdad, independent Iraqi broadcaster Sumaria News said, citing an unnamed police official.

The victims included security personnel who were in the market that sells used military outfits, according to the official.

No one has claimed responsibility.

The attack comes as Iraqi government troops, backed by a US-led coalition, are battling the militant Islamic State group, which controls swathes of Iraq. (DPA)

10:22 A.M. Sissi cuts short Ethiopia visit after deadly Sinai attack

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi cut short a visit to the Ethiopian capital for an African Union summit, following a wave of deadly attacks on Thursday night in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula claimed by Islamic State's Egypt wing.

Sissi's office said in a statement emailed on Friday morning that Sisi was heading back to Cairo to follow the situation. At least 26 security personnel were killed late on Thursday in four separate attacks in North Sinai, in some of the worst anti-government violence in months. (Reuters)

8:57 A.M. Prisoner swap deadline passes with no word from ISIS on Japanese journalist, Jordanian pilot

Families of a Japanese journalist and Jordanian military pilot remained in limbo Friday, a day after the latest purported deadline for a possible prisoner swap passed with no further word from the Islamic State group holding them captive.

Japanese officials had no progress to report after a late night that ended with the Jordanian government saying it would only release an Al-Qaida prisoner from death row if it got proof the airman was alive.

"There is nothing I can tell you," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters. He reiterated Japan's "strong trust" in the Jordanians to help save the Japanese hostage, freelance journalist Kenji Goto.

Suga said the government had been in close contact with Goto's wife, Rinko Jogo, who released a statement overnight pleading for her husband's life.

"I fear that this is the last chance for my husband, and we now have only a few hours left," Jogo said in a statement released through the Rory Peck Trust, a London-based organization for freelance journalists.

An audio message purportedly posted online by jihadis said the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, would be killed if Sajida al-Rishawi, the Al-Qaida prisoner, was not delivered to the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, Iraq time. It was not clear from the recording what would happen to Goto if the Iraqi woman was not returned by the deadline.

The authenticity of the recording could not be verified independently by the AP. But the possibility of a swap was raised Wednesday when Jordan said it was willing to trade al-Rishawi for the pilot. (AP)

5:57 A.M. U.S.-led airstrikes hit 6 Islamic State targets in Syria, 12 in Iraq

The United States and coalition partners launched six airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, and 12 more in Iraq as they kept up pressure on the insurgent group, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Among the strikes, which occurred between 8 A.M. local time Wednesday and 8 A.M. on Thursday, were five near Kobani, striking an Islamic State fighting position, three tactical units and a large unit, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.

The Pentagon said this week the militants had been driven out of 90 percent of Kobani, a city near the border with Turkey where fighting has raged for four months.

The airstrikes in Iraq, where Islamic State has captured a swath of territory, hit near Al Asad, Ar Rutbah, Mosul, Sinjar and Tal Afar, hitting targets including Islamic State tactical units, buildings, vehicles and a weapons storage facility, the task force said. (Reuters)