Syria attack: Second Isis suicide bombing in days hits US convoy

A suicide bombing claimed by Isis has targeted a US-Kurdish convoy in northern Syria, the second such attack in days.

The attacker drove his car into a checkpoint, injuring several soldiers of Kurdish-led forces, locals said.

A spokesperson for the US-led coalition in Syria confirmed that a joint US and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces convoy was “involved” in a car bomb attack, adding that there were no US casualties.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the suicide bombing hit a Syrian Kurdish checkpoint near the town of Shaddadeh, in the Hasakeh province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that two US soldiers were injured in Monday’s attack, and five other people were killed. There was no immediate confirmation of that report.

Isis claimed the latest attack in a statement carried by its Amaq news agency.

The SDF said there had only been material damage but acknowledged that Isis militants were expanding attacks, calling them post-defeat phase tactics, after being driven out of most of the territory they once controlled in the country.

“The intensifying of these terrorist attacks and moving sleeping cells to strike will not dissuade us from completing the mission to the end,” the SDF statement said.

On Wednesday, two US soldiers and two other Americans working for the coalition in Syria were killed in a suicide attack in Manbij, in Aleppo province. A further 12 civilians were killed in that attack, which was also claimed by Isis.

In December, Donald Trump claimed that Isis had been defeated in Syria, and ordered a withdrawal of US troops from the country, surprising allies and leading to resignations within his own administration.

Mr Trump has not yet commented on last week’s attack, which represented the single biggest loss of life for US forces thus far in Syria.

On Sunday, Turkey reiterated to the US that it is ready to take responsibility for security in Manbij, the site of last week’s attack.

In a phone call, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Mr Trump that Wednesday’s bombing was a provocative act aimed at affecting Trump’s decision last month to withdraw US troops from Syria.

Manbij, which US-backed forces captured from Isis in 2016, has emerged as a focal point of tensions after Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces, whose presence there has effectively deterred Turkey from attacking Kurdish forces.

With agencies