Officials said part of ISIL targeted security and military buildings in the city, killing six fighters and wounding an unidentified number of others.
Officials said an attack in the city of Raqqa killed six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in a statement on Monday that an ISIL (ISIS) element targeted military and security buildings in the city, killing six fighters and wounding several. others unspecified.
He added that the intelligence gathered by the group “shows the serious preparation of the [ISIL] cell”.
Siamand Ali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told the AP news agency that a group of five people believed to be members of an ISIL group were sleeping, two of them wearing belts containing explosives. explosions, attacked the checkpoints and guard posts of the Inner City of Raqqa. Security forces.
He said in the ensuing clashes, one of the attackers was killed and another was arrested. He said the SDF units and the Internal Security Force were tracking down the remaining attackers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition war watchdog, reported that the attack targeted the area where the headquarters of the SDF Internal Security Forces, anti-terrorist units are located. and a military intelligence prison, which holds about 200 ISIL prisoners.
The Observatory noted that the attack was the 16th operation carried out by suspected ISIL operatives in SDF-controlled areas since the beginning of this month.
‘Turkish threats’
Also on Monday, the observatory and the National Liberation Front, a coalition of Turkish-backed rebel groups, reported that six members of the coalition had been killed in clashes with the SDF and Syrian Army in the Aleppo countryside.
Abdi, the SDF commander, blamed the ISIL offensive in Raqqa in part on Turkey, which has been carrying out an air campaign against the SDF in northeastern Syria since late November and has threatened a land invasion.
“[The] Terrorist activity coincides with Turkey’s continued threats to the security and stability of the region,” Abdi said.
Ankara blames Kurdish groups in Syria for the deadly November 13 explosion in Istanbul, an allegation the groups deny.
SDF units briefly halted joint anti-ISIL patrols with US-led coalition forces due to Turkish attacks but resumed them earlier this month.
Last week, US Central Command said US forces had captured six ISIL fighters in three raids in eastern Syria. The SDF said separately that its fighters also captured an ISIL fighter who was managing cells in eastern Syria.
