US and Kurdish officials hailed the raid - which also wounded three or four Kurdish fighters - as a success. Photo / AP
US and Kurdish officials hailed the raid - which also wounded three or four Kurdish fighters - as a success. Photo / AP
American and Kurdish commandos raided an Isis (Islamic State) prison in Iraq yesterday, freeing about 70 captives believed to be facing "mass execution" and leaving one United States soldier dead, US and Iraqi officials said.
It was the first time a member of the US military had been killed ina combat situation in Iraq since President Barack Obama pulled out all US troops in 2011.
In a pre-dawn operation, soldiers from the Army's Delta Force, supporting a team of elite Kurdish soldiers, descended on a militant compound in the town of Hawijah, where officials believed dozens of Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga were being held captive. Militants from Isis were planning an "imminent mass execution" of prisoners, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said later in the day.
While peshmerga captives were not present at the site, the US and Kurdish forces freed dozens of others, including more than 20 members of the Iraqi security forces, Cook said. Five Isis militants were captured, officials said, and at least 10 killed. The Kurdish Security Council said more than 20 militants were killed.
One soldier from the Delta Force team, which numbered in the dozens, was shot when US forces entered the militants' compound. He later died. The Pentagon has not yet identified the slain soldier.
US and Kurdish officials hailed the raid - which also wounded three or four Kurdish fighters - as a success. While US Special Operations forces have staged several raids on Isis compounds in Syria since last year, Thursday's operation was the first known raid of its kind against the jihadist group in Iraq.
The manoeuvre underscored the risks facing troops in Iraq despite the Obama Administration's efforts to keep US forces far from combat and avoid the bloodshed of the last Iraq war, when more than 4000 American service members died. There are now about 3300 US service members stationed in Iraq.
