BEIRUT (AP) — An explosion struck Wednesday near a patrol of the U.S.-led coalition in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, killing and wounding more than a dozen people, a Syrian war monitoring group and a local town council said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven civilians were killed and nine wounded in the blast. There was no immediate comment from the U.S.-led coalition or the U.S. military on the explosion or casualties among coalition forces.
The Kurdish Hawar news agency, based in northern Syria, and the Observatory, which monitors the war through activists on the ground, reported U.S. troops were among the casualties.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, citing unnamed local sources, said a number of U.S. soldiers were injured in the blast and that the U.S. military evacuated soldiers by helicopter.
A U.S. military official said: “We are aware of the reports. We are working to get information and CENTCOM is going to release something when it’s appropriate.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because information is still being gathered.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the blast, saying one of its members carried out a suicide attack and detonated his vest with explosives.
The Observatory and the Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council, which runs the town, said the blast occurred near a restaurant near the town’s main market.
The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurahman also said the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber but didn’t immediately have any further details.
The attack comes as the U.S. has begun the process of withdrawing from Syria.
RT is reporting 4 USA soldiers killed and 3 wounded, so far:
https://www.rt.com/news/448935-manbij-blast-us-patrol-reports/.
I hope trump, when he calls the families of the fallen, doesn’t brag about his wall or how everyone in the fake media hates him.
It’s a deadly shame no one is around to advise the president that words have meaning. If you let the enemy know your plans, they will exploit that information.
I guess that was in one of the missing chapters of the Art of the Deal.
If Trump replies he will blame the fallen and say “They knew what they were getting into”.
Then if the Gold Star families question 5 Deferment Don he will mock them as he has done before.
What is even more sad is the is the Republican Congress will continue to back him.
This must be fake news since the CIC assured us that ISIS had been defeated.