WASHINGTON—An American service member was killed in action in northern Iraq, where U.S. forces are assisting local Iraqi troops in their high-stakes offensive to recapture the city of Mosul from the extremist group Islamic State, the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday.
The coalition said the American died after sustaining wounds caused by an improvised explosive device. A U.S. official said the service member was evacuated to receive medical attention but didn’t survive.
The death brings the total number of American service members killed in action in the fight against Islamic State to four.
The Pentagon didn’t identify the service member. U.S. military procedure stipulates that names of those killed in action are released only after notification of the next of kin. The Pentagon also didn’t give the exact location of the incident. A U.S. official said it took place north of Mosul.
The death marks the third time an American soldier or civilian has been killed in a combat zone this week. An American service member and an American civilian were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday when an Afghan soldier opened fire near a coalition base close to Kabul. The Afghan assailant was also killed.
The U.S. is advising and assisting local Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban and extremists linked to Islamic State.
Since launching its campaign against Islamic State in 2014, the U.S. has followed a strategy of arming, advising and assisting local forces in Iraq and Syria fighting the extremist group rather than putting American forces in the lead.
The strategy is in part designed to reduce the number of American casualties on the ground by keeping U.S. soldiers in the background rather than on the front lines. But the Pentagon has emphasized that despite the strategy, U.S. forces remain in harm’s way in Iraq and Syria and are operating in a combat zone.
Source: The Wallstreet Journal