Pentagon identifies three Americans killed in Syria suicide bombing

The Pentagon on Friday identified the two U.S. service members and one civilian employee who were killed this week in a suicide bombing in Syria.

The two service members were Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R. Farmer, 37, of Boynton Beach, Fla.; and Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) Shannon M. Kent, 35, of upstate New York, according to a Pentagon news release.

{mosads}Farmer was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Kent was assigned to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66, based at Fort George G. Meade, Md. She is the first female U.S. troop killed in action in the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The civilian was Scott A. Wirtz of St. Louis, Mo., according to the release. Wirtz was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency as an operations support specialist.

Farmer, Kent and Wirtz died “as a result of wounds sustained from a suicide improvised explosive device,” the release said.

In addition to the three identified Friday, U.S. Central Command has said an American military contractor was also killed in the blast, and three other U.S. troops were injured.

ISIS has taken credit for the Wednesday suicide bombing at a restaurant in the busy city center of the northern Syrian town of Manbij. At least 19 people, including the Americans, were killed in the explosion.

Central Command has said the Americans were conducting a “local engagement,” or meeting with locals, at the time of the bombing.

The four American deaths made Wednesday the single-deadliest attack on Americans in Syria since U.S. troops were deployed in 2015. Prior to Wednesday, two U.S. troops had been killed in action in Syria since 2015. 

The bombing came roughly a month after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of all 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria. The attack has sparked renewed calls for Trump to rethink the withdrawal.