American Killed Assisting in Raid on Islamic State Prison
- Special operations forces helped Kurds in prison rescue
- Islamic State prison site in northern Iraq hit by troops
Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters drive their military vehicle after they reportedly captured several villages from Islamic State (IS) group jihadistst on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi oil capital of Kirkuk on September 30, 2015.
Photographer: Marwan Ibrahim/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A member of a U.S. special operations team was killed during a raid to free hostages of Islamic State in northern Iraq, the first American to die in action in the country since U.S. forces returned to assist in the battle against the extremist group.
The service member, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was part of a special operations team assisting Kurdish Peshmerga forces who raided an Islamic State-controlled prison near Hawijah, according to a Pentagon statement Thursday.