“Hostile parties carried out an explosion on Monday evening … in al-Salihiya neighborhood near the water department in Hasaka city by planting an explosive device likely connected to a remote control device, where three members of the SDF were inside the targeted car and martyred immediately,” said a Tuesday statement from the internal security forces (Asayish) in Rojava.
Asayish said that two of the dead were veterans of the war against ISIS, which was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019.
The blast comes amid an SDF-led operation against ISIS in the Hasaka province’s notorious al-Hol camp - which houses suspects with links to ISIS and has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.
An investigation has been launched into the explosion.
The SDF, which controls northeast Syria, fought the lion’s share of the battle against ISIS and arrested thousands of the group’s fighters along with their wives and children when they crushed ISIS territorially and took the group’s last stronghold in Syria about five years ago.
Despite its territorial defeat, ISIS continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions on both sides of the border.