US names three killed in Syria blast claimed by ISIS

A US Navy servicewoman and a former Navy SEAL are among the four Americans killed in a suicide bombing this week in northern Syria that the United States believes was likely carried out by Islamic State, US officials said on Friday (Jan. 18), Reuters reported.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Farmer, 37, of Boynton Beach, Florida; Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon Kent, 35, identified as being from upstate New York, and Scott Wirtz, a civilian Department of Defense employee from St. Louis, died during the Wednesday attack in Manbij, Syria, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

The Pentagon did not identify the fourth person killed, a contractor working for a private company.

Kent joined the Navy in 2003, Navy officials said in a statement.

Wirtz, a Navy SEAL for 10 years, had been employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency since 2017 and completed three deployments for the agency in the Middle East, the agency said.

The Manbij attack on US forces in Syria appeared to be the deadliest since they deployed on the ground there in 2015. It took place in a town controlled by a militia allied with US-backed Kurdish militias.