Names revealed of three Americans tragically killed in Syria suicide blast

On Wednesday, four Americans were killed in a bomb blast in Manbij, Syria. They died due to wounds sustained from a suicide improvised explosive device.

The Department of Defense (DOD) finally released the names of the Americans who were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve when the incident occurred.

On Friday, Department of Defense (DOD) said those who died were Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R. Farmer, 37, Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) Shannon M. Kent, 35, and Defense Department civilian Scott A. Wirtz.

Farmer was a resident of Boynton Beach, Florida, while Kent hailed from upstate New York, and Wirtz was from St. Louis, Missouri. The Army Chief had been assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The Navy Chief was assigned to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66, based at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland and the civilian was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency as an operations support specialist.

A civilian contractor was the fourth American who died but they have not yet been identified. The Pentagon shared that they wouldn’t release his name since he was not military.

In 2005, Farmer joined the US Army and graduated from a Special Forces Qualification Course two years later as a Special Forces Engineer Sergeant. He served his country on 6 overseas combat tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.

He is survived by his spouse, four children, and his parents.

Kent joined the Navy in 2003 and had assignments in Georgia, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. In August 2018, she started reporting to Cryptologic Warfare Activity 66 after the command was established.

For 10 years, Wirtz served as a US Navy SEAL and retired as a Petty Officer First Class. He joined the Defense Intelligence Agency in February 2017, where he served three deployments in the Middle East as an operations support specialist.

US Coalition forces were on foot at around 1 p.m.in the Manbij when they were approached by a man wearing civilian clothing with explosives hidden underneath. The explosion occurred in a market area of small alleys that has shops and street vendors.

The incident is under investigation although ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack through recognized social media accounts,