US serviceman dies in operation to rescue hostages in Iraq

WASHINGTON/ERBIL, Iraq — One member of a U.S. special operations team was killed during an operation to rescue hostages held by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, the first American killed in ground combat with the militant group, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Around 70 hostages were successfully rescued during the operation, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

U.S. special operations forces were assisting Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces in rescuinghostages held at an Islamic State prison near Hawija, in northern Iraq, in a mission requested by the Kurdistan Regional Government, Cook said.

“Dozens” of U.S. troops were involved in the mission, a U.S. defense official said, declining to give further specifics on the number involved.

“It was a deliberately planned operation but it was also done with the knowledge that imminent action was needed to save the lives of these people,” the U.S. defense official said.

The U.S. serviceman was shot during the mission and taken back to Erbil, where he died, the U.S. defense official said.

He was the first U.S. serviceman killed in ground combat operations against Islamic State, which has been the target of daily air strikes in Iraq and Syria by a U.S.-led coalition for more than a year.

Five U.S. helicopters launched from Erbil were involved in the mission, and the United States was providing helicopter lift, intelligence support, air strike support, and advisory support to the peshmerga, the U.S. defense official said. Air strikes were launched both before and after the mission to block approaches to the prison and destroy it afterward, the U.S. defense official said.

Those rescued included 20 members of Iraqi security forces, Cook said in his statement.

Five Islamic State members were detained and are in Kurdish custody, and more than 10 were killed, the U.S. defense official said.

A Reuters source in the Hawija area said the special forces raided a house where Islamic State commanders were gathering, triggering gun battles and blasts that lasted several hours.

Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, a senior commander of the Kurdish peshmerga forces, confirmed an operation had taken place but said he had no further information about it. In May, American special operations forces killed senior Islamic State leader Abu Sayyaf from Tunisia in a raid in Syria.

Hawija is a stronghold of Islamic State militants who have captured Kurdish peshmerga fighters in battles.