Hours after US troops killed in Syria, Pence says ISIS defeated

Islamic State has been defeated in Syria, US Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday (Jan. 16), hours after Americans were killed in a northern Syria bomb attack claimed by the group.

Pence did not mention the attack in his address to 184 chiefs of US diplomatic missions who gather annually in Washington from around the world to discuss foreign policy strategy.

“ISIS has been defeated,” Pence told the US ambassadors and other senior American diplomats, referring to Islamic State.

In separate statements later, both the White House and Pence condemned the attack and expressed sympathy for the deaths of the US personnel.

The Pentagon said two US servicemembers, a Department of Defense civilian employee and one contractor working for the military were killed and three servicemembers were injured in the blast in the northern Syria town of Manbij.

An Islamic State-affiliated website said the attack was the work of a suicide bomber.

Trump made a surprise announcement on Dec. 19 that he would withdraw 2,000 US troops from Syria after concluding that ISIS had been defeated there.

Based on Reuters