Body of Navy SEAL killed by Islamic State fighters returning to US today

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

9 years ago

This undated photo provided by Bascom Communications & Consulting, LLC shows Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV. Keating, died Tuesday in Iraq in an Islamic State group attack near the city of Irbil. (Krista Joseph/Bascom Communications & Consulting, LLC via AP)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Charles Keating IV, 31, of San Diego. Navy SEAL Keating was shot and killed Tuesday, May 3, 2016, in Iraq during a gunbattle that involved more than 100 Islamic State fighters. (U.S. Navy via AP)

This U.S. Navy file photo shows Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Charles Keating IV, 31, of San Diego. The Islamic State attack on Kurdish forces in northern Iraq that killed Petty Officer 1st Class Keating was a surprise that, if anticipated, might have turned out differently, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday, May 5, 2016. (U.S. Navy photo)

This undated photo provided by Bascom Communications & Consulting, LLC shows Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV. Keating, died Tuesday, May 3, 2016, in Iraq in an Islamic State group attack near the city of Irbil. (Krista Joseph/Bascom Communications & Consulting, LLC via AP)

SAN DIEGO — The body of a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during combat in Iraq is returning to the United States.

SEALs spokeswoman Lt. Beth Teach says the body of Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Keating IV will arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware sometime Friday.

Teach says next week Keating’s remains will be returned to Coronado, California, near San Diego, where his SEAL team is based.

A funeral will be held in the San Diego area, where Keating’s family has asked that he be buried. Details are still to be determined.

Keating was shot and killed Tuesday during a gunbattle involving Islamic State fighters. He’s the third U.S. service member to be killed in combat in Iraq since U.S. forces returned there in 2014.