A Navy Seal has been killed in an Islamic State attack in northern Iraq, the third US military fatality since President Obama resumed operations there in 2014.
Charlie Keating IV, 31, was killed by extremists in an assault that briefly overran positions northwest of Mosul held by Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The soldier was embedded with the Kurds.
“It was an orchestrated attack with shots and multiple IEDs [bombs] going off,” an official said. Another US official had said earlier that the serviceman was killed by “direct fire”.
The Pentagon said that the attack took place about three miles behind the forward line of troops. Sources in northern Iraq said that the soldier was killed near the Assyrian Christian town of Tal Isqof, which was seized by Isis in 2014, prompting all but its oldest residents to flee. It was recaptured by a Christian militia commanded by Kurdish forces.
Isis launched a surprise attack early yesteday, using car and suicide bombers to overrun the town before being pushed back by US airstrikes and a Kurdish counteroffensive. The attack was the most serious breach of Kurdish defences in recent months.
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The soldier’s death has put the spotlight back on the number of US forces in Iraq and their remit.
Since 2014 the US military presence has ballooned from 275 advisers to more than 4,000 active servicemen, despite Mr Obama’s repeated insistence that he would not put boots on the ground in Iraq.