A US Special Forces operator was killed in northern Iraq. This is what the Pentagon has officially announced.
The soldier was injured due to the detonation of an improvised explosive device. Immediately removed from the battlefield, he died soon after due to his injuries. The operator was on a mission with the Kurdish peshmerga forces. According to a first reconstruction, the soldier was aboard an off-road vehicle north of Mosul: the vehicle exploded due to an IED. There are no other wounded. The operator, whose details have not yet been revealed, "died of injuries sustained following the explosion of an improvised explosive device in northern Iraq," according to a note from the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.
It is the first US loss since the beginning of operations to resume Mosul and the fourth American soldier to die in Iraq against the Islamic State. It is also the third US loss in October alone. There are more than 300 operators of US special forces committed to supporting Iraqi and Kurdish troops in the battle to retake Mosul. In total, around 5.000 US soldiers are currently stationed in Iraq.
The Islamic State continues to hinder the advance through desert villages mostly abandoned with various measures combined with sporadic fire from mortars and rockets. Hundreds of improvised explosive devices scattered in the Mosul area. The VBIED threat, Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices, is constant.
(photo: US Navy SEAL)
