Kurdish-led forces foil attack in north Syria by killing ISIS suicide bomber

A counter-terrorism unit from a local council in the northern Syrian city of Manbij killed a would-be suicide bomber of the Islamic State, authorities said on Friday.

MANBIJ (Kurdistan 24) – A counter-terrorism unit from a local council in the northern Syrian city of Manbij killed a would-be suicide bomber of the Islamic State, authorities said on Friday.

“The Daesh (ISIS) member arrived in Manbij a few days ago from the Turkish-held areas in northern Syria, and an anti-terror unit of the Manbij Military Council (MMC) had a raid on the house he was staying at and killed him,” the Manbij media office announced in an online statement.

The Manbij Military Council (MMC), an ally of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), began ruling Manbij in 2016 after liberating it from the Islamic State and the subsequent withdrawal of SDF fighters from the city.

According to the statement, the suicide bomber was holding a pistol and an explosive belt while leaving the house to carry out his attack. It also explained that MMC intelligence units had learned that the bomber had travelled to Manbij from a Turkish-held area in northern Syria that is in the vicinity of the location where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a joint US-SDF operation in October.

Friday's statement added that the bomber was neither Syrian nor Iraqi, but did not specify what is thought to be his nationality or any other details about him.

Manbij was liberated by the SDF in 2016 in one of the bloodiest campaigns that Syria witnessed against the Islamic State.

The city is located near territories controlled by either Russian-backed Syrian government forces or anti-Syrian militias supported by the Turkish government. This has made it the center of tensions related to Turkey’s repeated threats to invade the area amid negotiations to create a “safe zone” along the Turkish-Syrian border. 

In October, Syrian government forces were deployed to the countryside outside Manbij following the recent Turkish attacks as part of a deal between the SDF and the Syrian regime. Sponsored by Russia, the agreement allowed regime forces to enter SDF-held areas of Manbij, Kobani, Tal Tamir, and several other towns near the northern border. 

Earlier in the week, Turkish-backed forces shelled rural areas to the west of Manbij.

Read More: Turkish-backed groups shell Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, casualties reported

Though local media reported extensive material damage, no civilians were said to have been hurt, as happened in similar attacks against Ras al-Ain (Serekaniye).

Editing by John J. Catherine