American military, Photo: dpa picture alliance / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
Two U.S. soldiers and a civilian U.S. military translator were killed on Saturday by an attacker believed to be part of the Islamic State group who attacked a convoy of U.S. and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria, Reuters reported.
Three other American soldiers were wounded in the attack, US Army Central Command said.
In the statement issued, the command said that the attack took place while the soldiers were on a mission in the city of Palmyra. The attacker acted alone.
“The savage who carried out this attack was killed by partner forces,” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a social media post, according to Fox News.
“Let it be known that if you attack Americans – anywhere in the world – you will spend the rest of your short and anxious life knowing that the United States will hunt you down, find you and kill you without mercy,” the Pentagon chief added.
The attack, probably committed by the Islamic State
Islamic State has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but a senior US official said initial assessments were likely carried out by the militant group. The attack took place in an area that is not under the control of the Syrian government, he added.
The names of the victims will remain withheld from the general public for 24 hours, so that their next of kin can be notified first, the US military explained.
Syrian state news agency SANA cited a security source as saying two Syrian soldiers were wounded, without giving further details. The source told SANA that US helicopters evacuated the wounded to a US base in Syria's Al-Tanf region near the border with Iraq.
The attack came less than a month after Syria announced it had signed a cooperation agreement with the US-led coalition against Islamic State. The announcement coincided with the visit of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to the White House.
The coalition has carried out airstrikes and ground operations in Syria in recent months targeting suspected Islamic State members, often with the involvement of Syrian security forces. Syria also launched a nationwide crackdown last month, arresting more than 70 people accused of links to the group.
The US has troops stationed in northeastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to support a Kurdish-led force.
