ISIS claims attack on US forces in Syrian town

Militants launched a car bombing attempt on US forces in north-east Syria yesterday, the second such attack on American personnel in the country in less than a week.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition said that no American troops were killed in the blast, which was aimed at “a combined US and Syrian partner force convoy”.

ISIS released a statement on its Aamaq news agency claiming responsibility for the blast, and said US troops and US-backed Kurdish forces near a checkpoint south of the town of Al Shadadeh were the target.

Al Shadadeh is south of Hasakeh, capital of the province, which has been spared much of the misery of the war that erupted in Syria nearly eight years ago.

Aamaq said a suicide car bomb caused the explosion.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five members of the Washington-backed Syrian Democratic Forces were killed in the blast. The war monitor said two American soldiers were also wounded.

The SDF did not confirm the toll. The group was also not immediately available for comment.

The Kurdish-run Hawar news agency said that three people were wounded in the attack – two SDF members and one American soldier.

Hawar did not report any casualties.

Last week, an ISIS attack on US forces in Manbij killed four American personnel, including two US service members, one Department of Defence civilian and one contractor supporting the department.

The attack caused the largest loss of US life in Syria since Washington entered the conflict.

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced that the US was withdrawing its troops from Syria, declaring ISIS defeated.

But the US president’s move shocked US military officials and local partners who were not consulted on the withdrawal.