The Defense Department on Friday identified three of the four Americans who were killed Wednesday in a suicide bombing in Syria that was claimed by the Islamic State.
In a statement, the Pentagon named the three as Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R. Farmer, 37, of Boynton Beach, Fla.; Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) Shannon M. Kent, 35, of upstate New York; and Defense Department civilian Scott A. Wirtz of St. Louis.
The fourth American, a civilian contractor, was not immediately identified.
The four were killed, and three other Americans were wounded, when a suicide bomber on foot detonated an explosive vest in front of a restaurant in the northern Syrian city of Manbij as they were meeting with local military officials.
It was the largest loss of life in the Pentagon's war against Islamic State militants in Syria and a sign of the potent threat that the group still poses as President Donald Trump's administration begins to withdraw U.S. forces from the country.
The Pentagon said the Americans were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
It said Farmer was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), at Fort Campbell, Ky. Kent was assigned to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66, based at Fort Meade, Md., and Wirtz was an operations support specialist with the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Kent enlisted in the Navy in 2003 and served in assignments at Fort Gordon, Ga.; Norfolk, Va.; and Washington, in addition to Fort Meade, the Navy said.
"She was a rockstar, an outstanding Chief Petty Officer, and leader to many in the Navy Information Warfare Community," Cmdr. Joseph Harrison, the head of her unit at Fort Meade, said in a statement.
Farmer, a married father of four, joined the Army in March 2005, officials said. He served on four overseas combat tours: Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 and 2009, Operation New Dawn in 2010, Operation Enduring Freedom in 2012 and Operation Inherent Resolve -- his final mission -- in 2018 and 2019.
He was trained in Fort Benning and attended the Special Forces Qualification Course. Farmer graduated in 2007 as a Special Forces engineer sergeant and was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group, where he spent the rest of his career.
During his years of service, Farmer received numerous awards and decorations, including a Bronze Star Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
Wirtz served as a Navy SEAL for 10 years before joining the Defense Intelligence Agency in February 2017, an agency spokesman said. The agency said he completed three deployments in the Middle East.
The Pentagon said the suicide bombing in Manbij "is under investigation."
Trump's surprise Dec. 19 announcement that the Islamic State had been defeated and U.S. troops would be coming home drew widespread criticism, including from Republican allies who warned that a premature American departure could allow militants to return.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to discuss the situation in Syria as the U.S. begins the withdrawal process.
Graham was also expected to speak with Erdogan and other Turkish officials about a proposal for the creation of a "safe zone" in northeast Syria.
Separately, an airstrike hit militants and civilians trying to flee the last area controlled by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria on Friday, killing at least 20, the country's state media and opposition activists reported.
The airstrike on the Islamic State-held village of Baghouz comes as the offensive against the extremists by U.S.-backed fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has intensified over the past few weeks.
Thousands of civilians have fled from the area near the Iraqi border recently as the Islamic State has steadily lost ground.
The state Syrian Arab News Agency said 20 people were killed in the airstrike on Baghouz, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 people were killed. It said 10 Islamic State members were among the dead.
Both blamed the U.S.-led coalition that has been providing air cover to the Syrian Democratic Forces in their monthslong offensive to capture the area from the extremists.
Information for this article was contributed by William Branigin and Katie Mettler of The Washington Post; and by staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/19/2019