---
title: "Car bomb kills 15 in northern Syria, deadliest since Assad toppled"
description: "DAMASCUS, Feb 3 (Reuters) - A car bomb killed at least 15 people in the Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, the second attack there in three days and Syria's deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Civil Unrest"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-02-03-car-bomb-kills-15-in-northern-syria-deadliest-since-assad-toppled/"
published: "2025-02-03T11:48:08"
updated: "2025-02-03T11:48:10"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 189
---

# Car bomb kills 15 in northern Syria, deadliest since Assad toppled

> DAMASCUS, Feb 3 (Reuters) - A car bomb killed at least 15 people in the Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, the second attack there in three days and Syria's deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December.

By Reuters · Published 3 February 2025, 13:48 SAST · Updated 3 February 2025, 13:48 SAST

## Key points
- In a tragic twist of fate, Manbij, a town that has seen more regime changes than a soap opera, mourns the loss of 15 agricultural workers to a brutal car bomb, as the region continues to be a hotbed of conflict with no end in sight.
- A deadly attack in Manbij leaves 14 women and one man dead, with 15 others wounded, as the region remains unstable.
- The victims were agricultural workers, and the death toll may rise, according to civil defence officials.
- Manbij has seen multiple changes in control during the Syrian war, most recently captured by Turkey-backed forces from the U.S.-backed SDF.
- A separate car bomb incident in Manbij on Saturday killed four civilians and injured nine, including children.

## Content

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack in Manbij, located some 30 km (19 miles) from the Turkish border. The civil defence rescue service identified the dead as 14 women and one man, and said another 15 women were wounded.

The victims were agricultural workers and the death toll was likely to increase, a civil defence official told Reuters.

Manbij has changed hands numerous times during the Syrian war, most recently in December when Turkey-backed groups captured it from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is led by the Kurdish YPG militia.

The SDF had captured Manbij from Islamic State in 2016.

On Saturday, a car bomb in Manbij killed four civilians and wounded nine others, including children, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Assad was toppled from power on Dec. 8, following a lightning offensive by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, whose leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was declared Syria's transitional president last week.

(Reporting by Clauda Tanios in Dubai, Kinda Makieh and Khalil Ashawi in Damascus; Writing by Clauda Tanios and Tom Perry; Editing by Toby Chopra, Bernadette Baum and Alex Richardson)