ISIS claims bombing in Syria’s Manbij which left at least eight casualties

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A suicide bombing in the Syrian town of Manbij has left at least eight people wounded, a Syrian Kurdish official said on Saturday.

A suicide car bomb attacker blew himself up near a military vehicle in the northern town of Manbij, Shervan Derwish, the official spokesperson of the Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

According to Derwish, the afternoon attack left at least eight people injured, most of them civilians and one US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter. It occurred as a military vehicle was passing among other civilian cars, he added.

Shortly after the attack, the Islamic State said it was responsible for the violence, claiming it targeted US forces on the road connecting Manbij and al-Bab, killing three “crusaders.”

The US-led coalition or the SDF have not confirmed any casualties.

Saturday’s assault is not unlike previous attacks which the so-called Islamic State has carried out in the region.

Most recently, on Jan. 16, a suicide bombing in Manbij left 19 people dead, including four Americans, among them two US soldiers. Two SDF fighters were also killed in the explosion.

Shortly after the bombing, the Islamic State’s unofficial news agency, Amaq, claimed responsibility for the attack at a popular restaurant in Manbij which American and SDF troops frequented.

Five days later, another bomb targeted a joint convoy of the US-led Coalition and Kurdish-led SDF in Syria’s Hasakah province. The outcome of the attack was limited to material losses only, the SDF later said in a statement.

As the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate continues to crumble, recent insurgency attacks suggest the extremist group remains a threat. Coalition members and foreign officials have warned that the next battle in the war against the Islamic State is against its ideology.