The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria&nbsp;claimed responsibility for an attack on a checkpoint of U.S.-backed forces in the northern Syrian town of&nbsp;Manbij that killed seven fighters on Tuesday.

The attack indicates ISIS can still launch deadly insurgent strikes and is far from being completely defeated, despite losing all the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, including most recently in Baghuz in eastern Syria. ISIS militants were blamed for several attacks in the Manbij area in recent months.

Sharfan Darwish of the Manbij Military Council told The Associated Press that the attack came shortly after midnight at one of the entrances to Manbij, targeting the fighters who "were carrying out their mission of protecting" the town.

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The U.S-backed Syrian fighters who drove ISIS from its last strongholds called Monday for an international tribunal to prosecute hundreds of foreigners rounded up in the nearly five-year campaign against the extremist group.

In this Feb. 22, 2019 file photo, a man is frisked by a U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter after being evacuated out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, near Baghouz, eastern Syria. The SDF fighters who drove the Islamic State from its last strongholds called Monday for an international tribunal to prosecute hundreds of foreigners who have been rounded up.

Syria

In this Feb. 22 file photo, a man is frisked by a U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter after being evacuated out of the last territory held by ISIS militants, near Baghouz, eastern Syria. The SDF fighters who drove ISIS from its last strongholds called Monday for an international tribunal to prosecute hundreds of foreigners who have been rounded up.

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While the world has turned its attention elsewhere, the war in Syria continues. Gone are the days when the UN held peace conferences; instead, as the conflict moves into its ninth year, the global community holds its breath that a tenuous deal to halt hostilities in the northwest holds.

A child looks through a chain linked fence at al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Issam Abdallah

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Smoke rises after an attack in a rural area of southeastern Syrian late last year.

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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said members of an ISIS sleeper cell carried out the attack&nbsp;and three other Manbij Military Council fighters were also wounded.

In its claim of responsibility, ISIS said its followers targeted a checkpoint on the western edge of Manbij and confiscated the weapons of the U.S.-backed fighters.

In January, ISIS claimed a suicide attack in Manbij that killed 19 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians.

The attack on Tuesday occurred in Manbij in northern Syria, where Kurdish forces have been helping police the city.

Manbij attack

The fate of Manbij, controlled by members of the Manbij Military Council, whom Turkey considers linked to its own Kurdish insurgency, has been a source of tension between Ankara and Washington.

Turkey insists on the withdrawal of the Syrian Kurdish-led militia, which liberated Manbij from ISIS in 2016.

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President Donald Trump holds a a copy of two maps of Syria as he arrives on Air Force One, Friday, March 22, 2019, at Palm Beach International Airport, in West Palm Beach, Fla. One map is awash in red shows IS controlled territory in Syria in November 2016. The other, without red, indicates that IS as of today no longer controls territory in Syria. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Trump ISIS Syria

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a copy of two maps of Syria as he arrives on Air Force One in West Palm Beach, Fla, on Friday. 'Here's ISIS on election day,' Trump said, while pointing to recent declines in territory controlled by the group. 

U.S. confirms American soldiers, civilians among 19 killed in Syria suicide bombing

A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State killed two U.S. soldiers and two civilians working for the U.S. military in northern Syria on Wednesday, weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump said the group had been defeated there and that he would pull out all American forces.

An image grab taken from a video obtained by AFPTV on January 16, 2019, shows US armoured vehicles at the scene of a suicide attack in the northern Syrian town of Manbij. - A suicide attack targeting US-led coalition forces in the flashpoint northern Syrian city of Manbij killed a US serviceman and 14 other people today, a monitor said.

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This frame grab from video provided by Hawar News, ANHA, the news agency for the semi-autonomous Kurdish areas in Syria, shows a damaged restaurant where an explosion occurred in Manbij on Wednesday.

A member of the Manbij Military Council in Syria, left, gives a halt sign to the driver of a car on Dec. 29. A spokesperson for the council said Tuesday's attack happened shortly after midnight and appeared to target U.S.-backed forces.

ISIS claims responsibility for attack that kills 7 in northern Syria

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