ABC News(MANBIJ, Syria) — Two coalition personnel were killed and five were wounded by an improvised explosive device, Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement.
A U.S. defense official confirmed that one of the two coalition service members killed was an American.
The other was a member of the United Kingdom’s armed forces, a spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defense said.
The wounded received immediate care and were evacuated for additional treatment.
The name of the dead American service member will be withheld pending next-of-kin notification.
The incident occurred near Manbij, where the U.S. and its coalition partners have a small contingent of forces advising, training and assisting Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight against ISIS. The U.S. has approximately 2,000 troops inside Syria overall.
Thursday’s death of a U.S. service member marks the second American combat-related death this year.
On Jan. 1, Sgt. 1st Class Mihail Golin, 34, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, was killed after being engaged by enemy small-arms fire while on a dismounted patrol in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, the U.S. lost seven Airmen after their HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter hit a power line and crashed near al Qaim in western Iraq.
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