Palmyra, Syria - Two American troops and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria on Saturday after an alleged member of ISIS group opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol, officials said.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the deaths on X after Syria's state media earlier reported an attack in the city of Palmyra had wounded American and Syrian troops.

"An ambush by a lone ISIS gunman" resulted in the three Americans' deaths as well as injuries to three additional troops, said CENTCOM, which oversees the US military in the Middle East.

"The gunman was engaged and killed," it said.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the attack occurred as the soldiers "were conducting a key leader engagement" in support of counter-terrorism operations, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted "a joint US–Syrian government patrol."

"The savage who perpetrated this attack was killed by partner forces," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X.

Parnell said the identities of the deceased troops would be withheld until after their families were notified.

The incident is the first of its kind to be reported since Islamist-lead forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country's ties with the US.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the soldiers were taking part in a "joint field tour" in Palmyra, which was once under the control of ISIS.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, the meeting came as part of an "American strategy to strengthen its presence and foothold in the Syrian desert."

In an interview on state television, Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Anwar al-Baba said there had been "prior warnings from the internal security command to allied forces in the desert region" of a potential IS "infiltration."

"The international coalition forces did not take the Syrian warnings of a possible IS infiltration into consideration," he said.

Helicopters had evacuated the wounded to the Tanf base in southern Syria, where American troops are deployed, SANA said.

Last month, during Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's visit to Washington, Damascus formally joined the US-led global coalition against ISIS.

US forces are deployed in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Tanf near the border with Jordan.