ABC News: Inside the ISIS Prison Raid That Left US Service Member Dead
A U.S. special operations service member died in a Kurdish-led hostage rescue mission in northern Iraq today that freed 70 Arab hostages being held by ISIS.
The fatality marks the first U.S. death from hostile fire in Iraq since a training mission began there in June 2014.
More than 30 U.S. ground troops serving as advisers and five U.S. helicopters participated in what began as a mission to support dozens of Kurdish forces and ended up involving the U.S. forces in what one U.S. official described as "an intense firefight."
"Early today in Iraq, at the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government, U.S. Special Operations Forces supported an Iraqi Peshmerga operation to rescue hostages at an ISIL prison near Hawijah, Iraq," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement confirming the raid, using the government’s acronym to describe ISIS.
More News On The U.S.-Iraqi Raid That Saved 70 Hostages But Left One U.S. Service Member Dead
US-Iraqi forces free 70 captives facing IS 'mass execution' -- AFP
U.S commando killed in raid to free hostages of ISIS in Iraq -- Reuters
Pentagon: American killed in raid to free Iraqis held by IS -- AP
US Special Forces, Kurdish troops raid Islamic State prison in Iraq -- Threat Matrix
U.S. Soldier Dies in Raid to Free Prisoners of ISIS in Iraq -- NYT
American killed in Iraq hostage rescue, Pentagon says -- CNN
U.S. and Kurdish Commandos Rescue 69 ISIS Hostages in Iraq Prison Raid -- Newsweek
Special Forces rescue 70 ISIS hostages, but one American killed -- FOX News
American Killed in Raid to Rescue Prisoners in Iraq -- WSJ
ISIS Hostage Rescue: Militants Call Deadly U.S. Raid a Failure -- NBC
Isis in Iraq: This was a heroic one-off mission that will alter little -- Patrick Cockburn, The Independent
U.S. commando death in Iraq raises issue of ‘mission creep’ -- McClatchy news