DAMASCUS • A Syrian was killed and another was wounded when government supporters attacked American troops and tried to block their way as their convoy drove through an army checkpoint in northeastern Syria, prompting a rare clash, state media and activists reported.

The U.S. military said its force came under fire, and that troops responded in self-defense. It said an investigation of the incident was underway. Syrian state-run media said the man killed was a civilian and that he was among residents of a village east of the town of Qamishli who had gathered at the checkpoint and pelted the U.S. convoy with stones.

A video posted on state news agency SANA’s website showed angry men firing small arms at a convoy of several armored U.S. vehicles flying the U.S. flag. Some residents pelted the convoy with stones.

In one of the worst incidents of violence against U.S. troops deployed in northeastern Syria, a small fire appears to ignite on an armored vehicle, apparently from fire bombs lobbed at the convoy. U.S. soldiers were seen standing in the middle of the melee, trying to disperse the crowd.

Other videos showed another vehicle stuck in the dirt, apparently having veered into a ditch, while another had a flat tire. In one video, a resident walked up to U.S. soldiers at one of the vehicles, holding a U.S. flag, screaming: “What do you want from our country? What is your business here?” A soldier tells the shouting man to “back off.”

At that point, American troops fired live ammunition and smoke bombs at the residents, the reports said.

A U.S. military spokesman said coalition forces conducting a patrol near Qamishli encountered a checkpoint occupied by pro-Syrian government forces who ignored a series of warnings by coalition troops to de-escalate the situation. The patrol came under fire from unknown individuals.

In this frame grab from video, people and soldiers gathering next to a U.S. military convoy stuck in the village of Khirbet Ammu, east of Qamishli city, Syria, on Wednesday. Syrian media and activists say a Syrian was killed and another wounded in a rare clash between American troops.

the associated press