Two members of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition - an American and a Briton - were killed by an improvised explosive device in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, US and British officials said Friday. Five other coalition service personnel were wounded, the Pentagon said.
The attack in Manbij happened late Thursday - the day US President Donald Trump said he would pull forces out of Syria "very soon." "Two coalition personnel were killed and five were wounded by an improvised explosive device in Syria" at around midnight (2100 GMT), the coalition said in a statement which gave no further details about the victims.
A Pentagon official, speaking later on condition of anonymity, identified one of them as being American. Britain's defence ministry confirmed the second fatality came from within its ranks. "The individual was embedded with US forces on a counter-Daesh operation when the incident occurred," the ministry said, using an Arabic acronym to refer to the Islamic State (IS) group.
Since 2014, the coalition has provided weapons, training and other support to forces fighting IS jihadists in Syria and Iraq. This latest incident brings the number of US personnel killed in action during the operation to 14. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The US-led coalition said it was withholding details on the circumstances of the attack pending further investigation. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the attack hit a convoy in the heart of Manbij, also wounding four members of the local council.
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