US, Syrian forces wounded in attack on patrol in central Syria

DAMASCUS – As many as four US service members were injured, including some critically, when an unidentified attacker opened fire on their patrol in the central Syrian town of Palmyra on Saturday, a US official told Reuters.

Syrian state news agency SANA quoted a security source as saying that two Syrian service personnel were injured and the assailant was killed, without providing further details.

The number of wounded and the severity of their injuries could change as more information came in, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, two local Syrian officials told Reuters that a convoy of Syrian military forces and US forces from the American-led coalition fighting Islamic State came under fire.

The US has troops stationed in northeastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to help a Kurdish-led force there.

The source told SANA US helicopters evacuated the injured to a US base in Syria’s Al-Tanf region near the Iraqi border. REUTERS