BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP) — A spokesman for U.S.-backed forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria says they have captured a group of suspects involved in a January bombing that killed four Americans in a town in northern Syria.
Mustafa Bali says the suspects were captured following technical surveillance by the group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. He did not elaborate on the number of suspects or when they were captured.
The Americans were killed in a suicide bombing in January in the town of Manbij that was claimed by IS.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday, he said the outcome of the ongoing investigation will be shared at a later time.
Bali’s statement came few hours after the SDF said it had captured an IS encampment in the eastern village of Baghouz after IS militants surrendered.
Mustafa Bali, of the Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, says clashes however are continuing elsewhere in the village in eastern Syria as IS militants continue to fight back.
Bali says on Twitter on Tuesday that controlling the encampment in Baghouz marks “significant progress” in the fight but that it’s “not a victory announcement.”
The area held by IS in Baghouz is the last pocket of territory in Syria controlled by the extremist group, which once held a vast area of Syria and Iraq, calling it an Islamic “caliphate.”
Were the 4 Americans serving in one of our official branches of the military?
Or 4 mercenaries who happened to have American citizenship?
Anyone know if Erik Prince is still active in the business?
This article does seem to avoid saying what those Americans were up to in Syria and in what capacity. Maybe we need a few years of Benghazi level hearings to determine “what the hell is going on”. Seems to me tRump’s indecision on what to do about Syria and our involvement, at once wanting to pull out entirely and the then, not, may have led to their deaths. Syria has been so badly mismanaged by this administration.