Twin bombing strikes hit Syria’s Manbij amid continued ISIS insurgency

A twin bombing rocked the northern Syrian town of Manbij on Thursday, resulting in one injury, local security said in a statement.

The media center of the Manbij Military Council (MMC) said the explosions were caused by two roadside bombs in quick succession. The first blast took place at an area known as the Industrial Neighborhood on the al-Mankuba road, while the other occurred on Route 30.

The second blast led to minimal injuries to one civilian and some minor material damage, added the MMC. Hawar News Agency, a media agency close to Kurdish forces in Syria, reported that the first blast occurred while a civilian car was passing by.

Despite the Islamic State’s military defeat in the country, recently announced by the SDF with the fall of the group’s last sliver of territory in the town of Baghouz, Manbij has seen numerous insurgency-style attacks.

On Wednesday, local security thwarted an attempted attack on a funeral procession in the town. The MMC said then that their engineering teams had detected, removed, and later dismantled an explosive-laden motorcycle that had been parked near a graveyard where the ceremony was held.

On Tuesday, at least eight people, including members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), were killed as separate explosions were set off in the city of Raqqa. The deaths occurred when four fighters were engulfed by a second, larger explosion after gathering at the scene of the first.

In late March, the SDF confirmed that seven of its fighters manning a checkpoint at the entrance of the city perished in another attack.

Manbij was liberated by the US-backed SDF from the Islamic State in 2016 in one of the bloodiest campaigns in Syria against the extremist group. It is also at the center of tensions amid Turkey’s repeated threats to invade the area.

The security file of the town is now under the control of the MMC, which is backed by the SDF, a group dominated by the Kurdistan People’s Protection Units (YPG). Manbij is located near territory controlled by Russian-backed Syrian government forces and anti-Syrian militias supported by the Turkish government.

Source: Kurdistan 24