Seven fighters of the Manbij Military Council were killed in a midnight “terror attack” on a checkpoint in the city, the force announced Tuesday morning.
“A terrorist attack was staged on one of the checkpoints inside the city of Manbij at midnight and as a result seven fighters on guard duty were martyred,” the Manbij Military Council said in a statement.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described it as a “bloody attack” staged by a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cell.
Later on Tuesday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, AFP reported.
The target was a checkpoint of the self-defence forces on the Manbij-Aleppo road, the Observatory stated.
A number of other fighters were also injured, some critically, so the death toll may rise.
Manbij is in a state of alert while forces look for the perpetrators of the attack, according to the Observatory, noting the attack came a few days after the arrests of more than 100 people suspected of belonging to ISIS or associated with Turkish-backed forces.
