ISIS claims attack killed four American soldiers

The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack on a joint U.S. and coalition forces convoy in Syria—a claim U.S. officials said is inaccurate.

Local reports out of the region Thursday indicated that ISIS fighters initiated a complex attack on a convoy made up of American soldiers and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. One of the tactical vehicles in the convoy struck an improvised explosive device implanted near a cemetery in the town of Al-Namliyah, located in the northern part of Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province.

ISIS claimed via its official Amaq News Agency to have “detonated 18 explosive devices, causing the deaths of 4 American soldiers and the wounding of others.” However, these deaths were denied by the U.S.-led coalition tasked with battling ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitor supportive of Syria’s opposition, reported Thursday that ISIS had targeted a convoy traveling to toward al-Omar oil field in eastern Deir Ezzor. The jihadis reportedly hit an American Hummer, killing “at least 2 people” inside, “but so far it was not known if they were members of the Syria Democratic Forces or members of foreign nationalities of the International Coalition Forces.”

Source: Newsweek