The Manbij bombing occurred on 16 January 2019 when a suicide bomber targeted a busy market street in Manbij known to be frequented by American soldiers during the Syrian civil war.
The Palace of the Princes restaurant was popular with Americans, located on a crowded downtown street in Manbij.[3] U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jeanne Shaheen ate there when they visited Syria in July 2018.[3]
The attack
Several American military personnel were inside the Palace of Princes restaurant when a suicide bomber triggered an explosion outside the restaurant around midday on Wednesday, 16 January 2019.[4] The bomber mixed into a crowd of people visiting a nearby vegetable market and detonated his explosive vest near the restaurant entrance, igniting a fireball that left the dead and wounded scattered in the street.[3] Rescue workers rushed the wounded to the hospital, and military helicopters landed on a nearby soccer field to take the dead and wounded Americans and civilians to medical facilities.[3]
Casualties
The U.S. Department of Defense released a statement on 18 January 2019, identifying their three employees: a soldier, a sailor, and an intelligence expert.[5] Defense contractor Valiant Integrated Services identified one of their employees as the fourth American killed.[6] The four deceased Americans were:
Civilian contractor Ghadir (Jasmine) Taher of East Point, Georgia. Taher worked for Valiant Integrated Services as an interpreter for U.S. troops in Syria.[10]
The total death toll is believed to be 19, including 15 local SDF fighters.[1] Three other American servicemen were also injured.[11] The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility.[12]
A second joint convoy of U.S. and allied Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria was hit in al-Hasakah 5 days later, there were no casualties, with two Kurdish fighters were lightly wounded in the blast.[14]
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