2 U.S. troops among 19 killed in Syria

Suicide attack came hours after Syrian Democratic Forces rejected safe zone

Beirut — A suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State extremist group Wednesday has killed 19 people, including U.S. troops, in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, a war monitor reported.

The U.S. military confirmed in a statement emailed to dpa that two U.S. troops were killed and three U.S. soldiers were injured. The statement said a Department of Defense civilian employee and a contractor supporting the department also were killed, but didn’t identify them as Americans.

“Initial reports indicate an explosion caused the casualties, and the incident is under investigation,” the statement said.

President Donald Trump has been “fully briefed,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

In addition to the Americans, the attack also killed civilians and members of the Syrian Democratic forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led rebel group, said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based Observatory initially said the blast was caused by a car bomb, but later said that a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a restaurant in the center of Manbij, where the U.S.-led coalition has military bases.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and said the bomber had targeted a patrol of coalition troops and allied Kurdish militiamen.

Backed by the U.S., the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) seized Manbij from Islamic State in 2016.

Ankara considers the YPG to be an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) waging an insurgency within Turkey.

The SDF, which is part of the YPG militia, captured much of the Syrian territory once held by Islamic State, including its former de-facto capital of Raqqah.

In December, Turkey threatened to enter Manbij, but halted its operations following a U.S. decision to withdraw its troops from Syria.

Trump surprised his own military leaders, allies and members of Congress when he announced the withdrawal, saying Islamic State had been defeated in Syria.

Speaking in Washington, Vice President Mike Pence repeated the claim.

“The caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated,” Pence said, referring to Islamic State. But he added that the U.S. “will stay in the region” to make sure that the terrorist group “does not rear its ugly head again.”

Wednesday’s attack came hours after the SDF rejected a “safe zone” that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would establish in northern Syria near the Turkish border.