Originally published March 30, 2018 at 9:20 a.m., updated March 30, 2018 at 10:10 a.m.
BEIRUT (AP) — A U.S. defense official says one of the two troops with the U.S.-led coalition who were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Syria was an American.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details had not yet been publicly released, did not give the nationality of the second military member.
Earlier today, the U.S. military said two coalition personnel were killed and five others wounded by a roadside bomb in Syria without specifying where exactly the attack occurred.
The U.S. official said no additional information about the American would be immediately available.
KOBANI, Syria (AP) — The U.S. military said today two coalition personnel were killed and five others wounded by a roadside bomb in Syria in a rare attack since the U.S.-led coalition sent troops into the war-torn country.
The military did not say where the incident occurred or the nationalities of the casualties but it came hours after a local Syrian official said that a roadside bomb exploded in the tense, mixed Arab-Kurdish town of Manbij that is not far from the border with Turkey.
Manbij is under threat of a Turkish military operation. Ankara says Syrian Kurdish militiamen it views as "terrorists" and an extension of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey is in control of the town.
The U.S. military statement said the attack happened Thursday night and the wounded were evacuated for further medical treatment. The statement said details were being withheld pending further investigation.
It did not identify the casualties as U.S. soldiers, only coalition personnel members.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon couldn't immediately say who was behind the attack.
"There is an investigation under way to identify who they could possibly be. We have our initial assessment and thoughts on that but we won't provide until the investigation is complete," he said.
Dillon refused to give the nationalities of the dead and wounded as well as the location of the attack until next of kin notification.