ISIL kills U.S. Navy SEAL in northern Iraq
STUTTGART, Germany — Islamic State militants killed a Navy SEAL in northern Iraq on Tuesday after they penetrated Kurdish defensive lines and launched an attack with small arms and car bombs.
It was the third American combat death in Iraq since the U.S. military deployed advisers and other personnel there in 2014 to support the war against the Islamic State. A Defense Department official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed that the servicemember killed was a SEAL.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Islamic State terrorists overran Iraqi soldiers guarding a checkpoint, and then attacked Kurdish peshmerga fighters two miles away, where the U.S. servicemember was advising.
"He was not on the front lines, and it turns out that being two miles away from the battle between ISIL and Iraqi forces is a dangerous place to be," Earnest said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter described the fatality as a "combat death" that highlights the dangers American troops face in Iraq, even though they are not engaged in direct fighting with the Islamic State. The name of the servicemember was not released.
"It shows you it's a serious fight that we have to wage in Iraq," said Carter, who is in Germany to attend a ceremony at the headquarters of U.S. European Command.
The SEAL was part of a small team advising Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq. They had been checking on outposts when ISIL fighters mounted a complex attack, the official said. The SEALs were among the first advisers to help mentor counter-ISIL forces.
ISIL militants used car bombs and bulldozers to breach the front line. They raced ahead and attacked the command post where the SEAL was located.
There was no indication that ISIL fighters knew U.S. troops were at the facility at the time, the official said.
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The attack occurred about 20 miles north of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. Mosul is under Islamic State control, and Iraqi forces have begun preliminary operations to retake it.
The coalition responded by unleashing 23 airstrikes with F-15 fighters and drones after the militants penetrated the lines, the military said. It was not clear if any Kurdish forces were killed battling the militants.
Kurdish forces continued to secure the area following the raid by the militants, and several firefights between the two forces broke out Tuesday. Some of the militants were killed after the raid, while others may have managed to escape back to militant-controlled areas, according to the U.S. military.
It is not clear how the militants managed to infiltrate the front lines, which are a series of outposts that mark a line between enemy and friendly forces in the Kurdish region. The lines are not secured by trenches or barriers.
The Obama administration recently announced that it would send an additional 217 military advisers and support personnel to Iraq, raising the authorized level from 3,870 to 4,087. The Pentagon acknowledged the number may rise even more when servicemembers are deployed on temporary assignments.
The administration has said the U.S. military presence is limited to advisers and trainers to support Iraqi forces, which have been leading the ground operations against the Islamic State. It has also deployed a special operations unit capable of small raids against targeted leaders of the extremist group.
President Obama has drawn a distinction between that approach and sending thousands of conventional forces back to Iraq to directly confront the Islamic State, a move he said he opposes. Obama withdrew conventional ground forces from Iraq in 2011 after eight years of war.
"The president's been clear time and time again exactly what their (U.S. troops') mission is. That mission is to support Iraqi forces on the ground who are taking the fight to ISIL on the front lines," Earnest said. "Iraqi forces must fight for their own country. The United States cannot be a substitute for those Iraqi forces."
Tuesday's death highlights the dangers that advisers face even if they are not engaged in direct combat with the militants.
In announcing the latest deployment of 217 U.S. troops, the Pentagon said it was loosening the restrictions it had placed on the advisers, a change that could put them closer to the battlefield. Under the new rules, advisers can be embedded with the Iraqi battalion headquarters. Before, they were limited to remain at higher brigade or division headquarters, which generally are farther away from the fighting.
The new rules were needed to help Iraqi forces as they embark on a major offensive to retake Mosul, the Pentagon said. Iraqi combat units will be farther away from large military bases, requiring advisers to go greater distances into the field to work with battlefield commanders.
Tuesday's fatality was the second U.S. combat death in Iraq this year. A U.S. Marine was killed by rocket fire in March in northern Iraq, where his unit was establishing an artillery position to support Iraqi forces when the outpost came under militant fire.
Last year, a U.S. serviceman died while supporting Kurdish forces during a raid on an Islamic State prison that freed a number of captives.
Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook and Gregory Korte in Washington
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