Blast in northern Syrian town targets US soldiers: Reports

A suicide bomber targeted an American military patrol in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, leaving casualties, news reports say.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council, which administers the town, said the blast occurred near a restaurant on Wednesday, killing seven civilians and a US serviceman.

Al Jazeera contacted the US military for confirmation but no telephone or email response was received by time of publication.  

A witness told Reuters news agency the suicide attacker targeted an American patrol and the Manbij Military Council said on Facebook there were also troops wounded.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said wounded US soldiers were transferred to a hospital by helicopter.

The attack comes as the US begins the process of withdrawing about 2,000 troops from Syria.

Last month, US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal announcement surprised many politicians in Washington as well as Western and Kurdish allies fighting alongside the US against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Trump’s decision was initially expected to be carried out swiftly, but the timetable became vague in the weeks following his announcement.