IS claims bombing of facility of Syrian Kurds in Raqqa

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Islamic State (IS) on Monday took responsibility for a suicide bombing at a military base belonging to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Earlier in the day, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a suicide bomber detonated himself at a YPG facility, killing four civilians and a YPG fighter.

In a statement on the jihadist group-affiliated Amaq news agency, IS said the attack targeted a “recruitment center” of the Kurdish militia in the city, and claimed they had killed or wounded 17 people, according to Reuters.

Amaq added that Abu Abdulla al-Shami, the bomber, first opened fire on the people at the center before detonating his explosive vest.

The YPG lead the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which liberated Raqqa from the grips of IS with the pivotal help of airstrikes carried out by the international anti-IS coalition in 2017. This was over three years after the jihadist group invaded the city and declared it the Syrian capital of their self-proclaimed Caliphate.

After taking large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, the terror group has now been confined to a small area in eastern Syria.

However, IS continues to spread terror and has now returned to an insurgency-style war, with kidnappings, ambushes, and suicide bombings occurring on a regular basis in both countries.

Editing by Nadia Riva