Pentagon on U.S. Soldier’s Death in Iraq

BAGHDAD — An American soldier was fatally wounded on Thursday as American and Kurdish commandos raided an Islamic State prison in northern Iraq after learning that the prisoners faced imminent mass execution, the Pentagon said. The commando became the first American soldier killed in action in Iraq since the withdrawal in 2011.

The raid, near the town of Hawija, freed 70 prisoners, including more than 20 from the Iraqi security forces, the Pentagon said in a statement. Five Islamic State fighters were detained and several killed, and American officials said important intelligence about the terrorist group was recovered.

Some details of the classified operation remained unclear. But as described by American and Iraqi officials, the mission appeared to be a significant joint strike against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, at a time when Iraqi and American officials are trying to mount a wider counteroffensive against the militants.

Fears that the prisoners were in danger may have been reinforced by the militants’ actions in recent days. An Iraqi in the Hawija area, who asked not to be named because he feared retribution from the Islamic State, said this week that the militants had recently executed 11 young men who were the sons or relatives of police officers or other Iraqi forces. He said their bodies had been hanged on a nearby bridge.

Initial reports noted that at least some of the hostages were Kurds, but Kurdish officials involved in the operation later reported that none were. Further details about the nationalities of the hostages were not immediately announced.

Providing new details about the operation, a senior Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified operation, said that five American helicopters had been involved, including Chinook and Black Hawk choppers. The American forces involved were part of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command.

The American and Kurdish commandos had expected to rescue about 20 prisoners only to find 70, underscoring the complications of gathering accurate intelligence in a militant-controlled area. The Defense Department official said that there had been a heavy firefight.

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The State of the War Against ISIS

The United States, Iraq and their allies are engaging the Islamic State on multiple fronts in an attempt to weaken the militants’ defenses.

The prisoners who were freed said they had been told by the militants that they were to be executed at dawn Thursday after the morning prayer; a trench to bury them had already been dug, the official said.

Iraqis from the area said that the building the Islamic State had taken over and used to hold prisoners used to be owned by a local judge who had left the region. They said that the Americans had conducted airstrikes on nearby checkpoints to prevent the militants from sending reinforcements.

“They cut off roads and raided the place successfully,” one of the Iraqi officials who confirmed the raid, Najmaldin Karim, the governor of the surrounding Kirkuk Province, said in a telephone interview. “They were able to take people with them.”

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One American soldier was wounded during the operation and later died of his injuries, American officials said. The soldier was not identified pending family notification. Four Kurdish soldiers were wounded, officials said.

American officials said American helicopters flew the commandos to the site. Kurdish special forces were said to have been in the lead, but American commandos were also on the ground.

The operation comes as Iraq and the American-led coalition have been trying to regain the initiative against the Islamic State and stepping up the pressure against the militants in Ramadi, Baiji and other areas in Iraq, and in Syria. Hawija is under the control of the Islamic State and has been an important flash point in recent weeks.

While American commando operations have taken place in Syria, none had previously been confirmed to have happened within Iraq.

The slain soldier was the first American killed since military operations by the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State began in September 2014, but soldiers from other coalition nations have also been killed. A Canadian soldier was killed in northern Iraq in March in a friendly-fire incident involving Kurdish troops. And a Jordanian pilot was burned alive this year by the Islamic State after his plane crashed in Syria in December.