Bomb attack kills 13 in Syria's Raqa: War monitor

A double bomb attack Tuesday in the northern Syrian city of Raqa, a former bastion of the Islamic State group, killed 13 people, mostly civilians, a war monitor said.

A car bomb and explosive ordinance struck a crowded street, killing nine civilians and four US-backed fighters, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack near a military outpost of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who have been fighting IS.

A Raqa resident said he saw black smoke rising above the site of the attack as ambulance sirens rang out.

He said he saw "blotches of blood on the ground".

"There is panic and fear in the area after the bombings," he added.

Raqa city was captured by the SDF in 2017 after a massive operation against the jihadists.

The SDF declared it had defeated the jihadists' so-called "caliphate" last month, after a months-long offensive in Syria's east.

IS fighters, however, retain a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert and various other hideouts, and continue to claim deadly attacks in SDF-held territory.

Earlier on Tuesday, a car bomb targeted a patrol of the US-led coalition in the northeastern town of Shadadi, the war monitor said.

But it failed to hit its target, leading only to the death of the suicide bomber, it said.

Sleeper cells

Last month, IS fighters killed seven US-backed fighters in an attack on the northern city of Manbij.

The SDF has warned that a new phase has begun in anti-IS operations, and appealed for sustained coalition assistance to help hunt down sleeper cells.

IS seized a large swathe of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" in the lands it controlled.

After various offensives saw the jihadists lose their main cities in 2017, the SDF on March 23 declared they had vanquished its last patch of territory in the eastern village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.

At the height of their rule, the extremists ruled millions of people in a proto-state the size of the United Kingdom.

They collected taxes, minted their own coins, and meted out brutal punishment on anyone who disobeyed or opposed them.

Saturday's deaths are the latest in Syria's devastating eight-year war, which has killed more than 370,00 people since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests.