United States officials say that U.S.-backed forces have captured Islamic State fighters tied to a January suicide bombing in Syria that killed four Americans, generating concrete leads about the deadliest attack to date there against U.S. personnel.
The bombing killed Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Farmer, Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon Kent and Scott Wirtz from the Defense Intelligence Agency. It also killed Ghadir Taher, a naturalized U.S. citizen working as a civilian interpreter for a U.S. contractor.
Speaking on the condition on anonymity, officials said regarding those detained that "those initial detentions have provided some leads and opportunities that we are continuing to exploit. The investigation is ongoing as are efforts to bring all of those terrorists responsible to justice.
The attack was the worst single incident involving U.S. personnel in Syria since they deployed on the ground there in 2015. The bombing occurred nearly a month after President Donald Trump made the surprise decision on Dec. 19 to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, declaring Islamic State had been defeated there.
