American killed in Syria; US exit soon?

WASHINGTON — Two members of the U.S.-led coalition fighting in Syria were killed — one U.S. soldier and one British — and five others were wounded by a bomb in a late-night attack, the military said Friday.

The attack took place near Manbij in northern Syria and is believed to have been carried out by remnants of the Islamic State, a senior U.S. military official said.

A statement posted by the U.S. Central Command, which directs U.S. forces in the region, said ‘‘an improvised explosive device’’ detonated about 11 p.m. local time Thursday.

The statement did not reveal the identities of the service members involved or how seriously the survivors were hurt. The U.S.-led coalition includes about 30 countries, but only a few have forces on the ground.

Coalition forces have been deployed to Syria to fight the Islamic State alongside Kurdish militia allies. But with ISIS largely routed, the 7-year-old civil war in Syria has entered a dangerous new phase.

Two U.S. allies, Turkey and the Kurds, who control parts of northern Syria, are fighting each other. And the Kurds and coalition forces are engaged in a standoff with the Syrian government, along with its allies — Russia, Iran and Iranianbacked militias.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. could pull its approximately 2,000 troops out of Syria — ‘‘Very soon, we’re coming out,’’ Trump said during a rally in Richland, Ohio. The comments surprised Defense Department officials who have maintained that some kind of U.S. presence in Syria may be necessary to avoid re-creating the conditions that led to the rise of the Islamic State — and also to avoid ceding influence in the country to Russia.

But The Associated Press reported that the president has increasingly been telling his top advisers that he wants out.