Op to free ISIL hostages sees first US ground casualty against group

One member of a U.S. special operations team was killed during a joint U.S.-Kurdish operation to rescue hostages held by the ISIL fighters in northern Iraq, the first American known to have been killed in ground combat against the armed group, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that U.S. special operations forces launched the operation at the behest of the Kurdistan Regional Government in support of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Iraq.

“The U.S. provided helicopter lift and accompanied Iraqi Peshmerga forces to the compound. Approximately 70 hostages were rescued including more than 20 members of the Iraqi Security Forces,” Cook said. He added that five ISIL fighters were detained and many more killed in the operation.

The operation, according to U.S. and Kurdish authorities, occurred in the Hawijia area of northern Iraq. Hawija is a stronghold of ISIL fighters who have captured Kurdish peshmerga fighters in battles, and the Pentagon said the operation was launched based on intelligence suggesting the prisoners faced imminent mass executions.

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

Sheikh Irfan, who said his nephew was among the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters held prisoner, said a Peshmerga official called his family Thursday to confirm the rescue mission. He said he was told that 70 hostages were freed, including Peshmerga fighters.

Four Peshmerga fighters were wounded in the operation, according to the Pentagon.

With wire services