Four civilians, one Kurdish militant killed in Daesh bomb attack in Syria’s Raqqah
A deadly bomb attack, claimed by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, has hit a center for US-backed Kurdish militants in the northern Syrian city of Raqqah, leaving at least four civilians and a militant dead.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fatalities took place on Monday, when the attacker detonated his explosive vest after entering the center run by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), part of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that has close military cooperation with the US.
"A suicide attacker wearing an explosive belt blew himself up inside a YPG center after opening fire on a security checkpoint at its entrance," said Rami Abdel-Rahman, the Observatory chief.
Raqqah residents said the Kurdish militants had cordoned off the area and the nearby streets after the blast.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the assault in a statement issued via its Amaq news agency, describing the site as a "recruitment center" for Kurdish forces.
The US has been arming and training Kurdish militants under the banner of helping them fight Daesh, but Syria and several other countries see ulterior motives behind the deployment.
Syria and its allies pushed the Takfiri terrorist group out of its last stronghold in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr early last year.
Turkey, a key US ally in the region, has repeatedly questioned Washington's deployment of heavy weapons in Syria despite the defeat of Daesh in much of the Arab country.
Ankara views the YPG as a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting a decades-long deadly war against Turkey for an independent state in the country’s southeast.
Kurdish forces, who were left exposed by US President Donald Trump's pledge to pull out American soldiers from Syria, have asked Syrian government forces for help amid indications that Turkey is considering a military campaign against them.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.
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