ISTANBUL

Four Syrian security personnel were killed on Monday in an attack by the ISIS (Daesh) terrorist group targeting a security checkpoint west of Raqqa city in northeastern Syria, the Interior Ministry said.

A ministry statement said an Internal Security Forces checkpoint in the city of Raqqa was subjected to a terrorist attack, killing four members and injuring two others.

It added that security forces managed to neutralize one Daesh member, with forces continuing to comb the area to eliminate any remaining elements.

The ministry said Monday’s attack was the second against security forces in the area, explaining that the same checkpoint came under a similar attack on Sunday, during which an attacker was killed.

Earlier, the SANA news agency, citing an unnamed security source, reported that four internal security members were killed in an ISIS attack on the al-Sabahiya checkpoint west of Raqqa.

The agency said military police units were deployed to secure the area following the attack.

ISIS sleeper cells are active in the region, which the terrorist group gained control over in 2014 before it was pushed out three years later by a US-led international coalition.

The area later fell under the control of the terror group YPG/SDF before the Syrian Army recently regained control of the region.

*Writing by Rania Abushamala in Istanbul.