Wednesday’s terrorist attack in the Syrian town on Manbij, which claimed the lives of five US military servicemen, may have been aimed at affecting Washington’s plans to withdraw troops from Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference following talks with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

Axar.az reports citing Russian media.

"The Manbij explosion killed 27 people, including five US military servicemen. I don’t rule out that the attack was aimed at affecting the US plans [to pull troops out of Syria]," he said.

At the same time, Erdogan pointed out that he was resolute during talks on the troop withdrawal with US President Donald Trump.

In addition, the Turkish leader vowed to continue the fight against militants from the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia).

According to media reports, a suicide bomb blast in Manbij targeted a restaurant where at least 15 US troops were present.

Trump ordered a full withdrawal of US troops from Syria on December 19, 2018.