A U.S. military member assisting Iraqi forces in their push to retake Mosul was killed by a roadside bomb Thursday, marking the first American combat casualty in the campaign to oust the Islamic State group from its last major stronghold in northern Iraq.
U.S. officials said the American was fatally wounded near the town of Bashiqa, north of Mosul. He was operating as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist in support of Kurdish peshmerga fighters who are part of an effort to recapture Mosul that began Monday.
A senior U.S. defense official said the service member was in an armored vehicle traveling with Iraqi special forces northeast of Mosul when the vehicle hit a roadside bomb, possibly rolling over.
The soldier was taken by medevac to the Kurdish regional capital, Irbil, but died of his wounds. The official was not aware of any others wounded in the blast.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details. The American’s identity was being withheld pending notification of his family.
He was the fourth U.S. combat death in Iraq since the U.S. began military operations against the Islamic State with airstrikes in August 2014.
It was not immediately clear whether other U.S. service members were hurt in the bomb attack Thursday.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the death was a “reminder that our people who are participating in the counter-ISIL campaign, whether they be flying aircraft or working with the Iraqi security forces and the other forces and enabling their consistent advances of the kind that we see in the region of Mosul today, are in harm’s way.”
He added that “this is necessary work, because it’s necessary for us to destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria,” referring to IS by another acronym.
“Therefore it’s necessary for us to enable in this case the Iraqi security forces and the peshmerga in northern Iraq — and it appears that it was in that role that the service member was killed,” Carter added.
He said he had no other details.
Pentagon officials had acknowledged at the outset of the Iraqi-led offensive that U.S. special operations troops advising Iraqi security forces and Kurdish militia fighters could be wounded or killed as they advanced on Mosul.
Roadside bombs and other emplacements of improvised explosive devices pose a particular danger to advancing Iraqi forces and the U.S. advisers who are with them. The Islamic State group, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years, has prepared extensive defenses in and around the city.
More than 100 U.S. special operations forces are operating with Iraqi units, and hundreds more are playing a support role in staging bases farther from the front lines.
U.S. Central Command announced the death in a brief statement saying the service member was wounded by an “improvised explosive device.”
The assault on Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, is bringing American forces into their most significant role in Iraq in years. There are more U.S. forces in Iraq now than any time since the 2011 U.S. withdrawal, and American forces have been increasingly active on and beyond front-line positions.
Asked earlier this week about the degree of risk facing U.S. special operations forces who are advising Iraqi forces in the Mosul operation, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Iraqis are in the lead but efforts are being made to limit the risk facing U.S. troops.
“There are Americans in harm’s way as part of this fight,” Cook said Monday as the Mosul offensive was announced by the Iraqi government. “We’re very aware of that and we’re taking steps, as many steps as we can, to reduce the risk to American forces and we’ll continue to do that.”
There are approximately 4,800 U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. That doesn’t include another 1,500 troops considered there “on temporary duty,” whose number changes daily, according to the U.S. officials.
Three other service members have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led coalition began launching airstrikes against IS.
In October 2015, Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed when he and dozens of other U.S. special operations forces participated in a raid alongside Iraqi Kurdish forces to free IS-held prisoners.
Months later, Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed when IS fighters attacked a fire base in northern Iraq, and in May, Navy SEAL Charles Keating was killed in a firefight near Tel Askuf, also in the north.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
He is a hero. Not some useless cop.
I agree totally I military should not be the world’s police force!
Yes he was but not all cops are useless some are.
ANDY.
MY GRANDSON IS A POLICE OFFICER AND A FINE CHRISTIAN YOUNG MAN WHO PUTS HIMSELF IN HARMS WAY EVERY DAY. THIS IS TO PROTECT PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO DOESN’T RESPECT THEM. THEY ARE VERY LOW PAID FOR THEIR DUTY TO MAN KIND. DO YOU WANT TO PRINT A RETRACTION ON YOUR USELESS REMARK. I AWAIT YOUR REPLY.
We’ve got to get our troops out of Iraq, Syria and any other area where there is war. Obama wants our troops defeated in his quest to have Islam as a dominant force throughout the world. You must see by now the facts and everything Obama has done has harmed the U.S..The money to Iran, the release of terrorists in Guantanimo Cuba who have returned to the battlefield,the fact that no one is allowed to call them Islamic terrorists even though that’s exactly what they are,the open borders and knowing full well that terrorists are flowing in at an alarming rate threatening our way of life and using the millions of illegals to vote for the anti-American politicians.
Well said, Obama is more anti-American than some leaders of countries that hate us. He probably supports isis deep down in his putrid soul.
they are heroes only when it fits the media’s agenda! when they don’t they get ignored.
Since our current president and his administration had been in office, our military has been depleted and at the level of World war 2. That’s a disgrace! America is still the greatest nation on earth, just look at all the illegal people who have invaded our country and taken advantage of our system. No one should be able to vote that’s not an American citizen! Period!!
My family has been in the military since the beginning of this great country. You can walk through Arlington Cementary and private cemeteries across America and see their graves. This Special Force officer is indeed a hero!! God bless him and God bless America for their brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our nation! God bless his family!