US soldiers killed in Syria bombing
US soldiers have been killed by an explosion in Syria while carrying out a “routine patrol”, according to the anti-Isis military coalition in the region.
A bombing in Syria claimed by Islamic State killed at least four Americans on Wednesday, the Pentagon said, hardening divisions in Washington over President Trump’s plan to withdraw troops from the country.
The four Americans—two military service members, a civilian Defense Department employee and a Pentagon contractor—were among 19 believed killed in the blast, including allied fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces and a number of civilians, according to local media and a monitoring group. Other Americans may have been…
The explosion in the northern Syrian town of Manbij came two weeks after US President Donald Trump announced that the US would begin pulling its troops out of Syria, claiming that the main purpose of their presence in the country, defeating Isis, had been achieved. Kurdish allies feared that this US move might leave them exposed to a Turkish military offensive, which has been long threatened by Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Turkey’s president. A spokesperson for the Pentagon said four people were killed, including two soldiers, one civilian employed by the US military and a contractor working for the US military. Three other soldiers were injured.
