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U.S. Commando Killed During Hostage Rescue in Iraq

Seventy hostages freed who were in imminent danger of being executed, officials say.

By Paul McLeary

In this night exposure photograph US soldiers from Bravo and Delta Company, 2-87 Infantry Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team and Afghan national security forces board a Chinook military helicopter at the Forward Operating Base Pasab in Zahri district, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan late August 14, 2011 during a ground and air assault operation in Maiwand district against Taliban insurgents. According to Major Kirby Dennis, operations officer of Task Force 2-87 the five hour US army operation resulted in the capature of eight individuals, including two suspected Taliban leaders and assorted bomb making components. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD (Photo credit should read ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)

October 22, 2015, 1:07 PM

American helicopters swooped in on an Islamic State building being used as a prison in northern Iraq early Thursday, freeing 70 hostages in a raid that left one American Special Operator dead, U.S. officials said.

The assault near the town of Hawijah, south of Kirkuk, freed a group of prisoners who “faced imminent mass execution” according to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.

After landing at the site, U.S. forces thought to be from the elite Delta Force “accompanied Iraqi Peshmerga forces to the compound,” Cook said, adding that five Islamic State members were captured. The Kurdistan Regional Government said that the raid began at 2 a.m. local time, and killed 20 Islamic State fighters before U.S. and Kurdish forces wrapped things up two hours later. There were no Kurds among those rescued, the Kurdish government said. The teams also collected intelligence on Islamic State operations at the site.

Reports indicate that the U.S. commandos only entered the fight after Kurdish forces came under heavy fire, and the American service member was killed by gunfire.

The raid came about at the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government and was within the bounds of U.S. operations in Iraq “in their advise and assist capacity,” Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The operation appears to be the most significant American ground operation in the region since U.S. Delta Force troops raided the home of Abu Sayyaf, a top Islamic State financier, in Syria in May. He was killed in the raid which nabbed a treasure trove of documents and intelligence. The soldiers also captured his wife, known as Umm Sayyaf, who was turned over to Kurdish authorities for interrogation.

The American casualty marks the first time a U.S. service member has been killed in Iraq since the American withdrawal in 2011. About 3,500 American forces returned in 2014 to advise Iraqi forces in their fight with the Islamic State.

Photo Credit: ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images