US commando killed in raid to free hostages of Daesh in Iraq

One member of a US special operations force was killed during an overnight mission to rescue hostages held by Daesh militants in northern Iraq, the first American to die in ground combat with the militant group, US officials said on Thursday.
Sixty-nine hostages were rescued in the action, which targeted a Daesh prison around 7 kilometres north of the town of Hawija, according to the security council of the Kurdistan region, whose counterterrorism forces took part.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a news briefing the operation did not mark a change in US tactics in the war on Daesh militants, who pose the biggest security threat to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
"I would not suggest that this is something that is now going to happen on a regular basis, but I do think it is symbolic of the kinds of efforts that we are taking on behalf of our partners," he told reporters.
It was the most significant raid against Daesh since May, when American special operations forces killed one of its senior leaders, Abu Sayyaf from Tunisia, in a raid in Syria.
The US rescue mission unfolded amid mounting concerns in Washington over increasing Russian intervention in the Middle East.
The hostages rescued in the raid were all Arabs, including local residents and Daesh fighters held as suspected spies, a US official said on Thursday.
The official told Reuters that around 20 of the hostages were members of Iraqi security forces.
"Some of the remainder were Daesh ... fighters that Daesh thought were spies," the official said. "The rest of them were citizens of the local town".
More than 20 Daesh militants were killed and six detained, the security council said.
Daesh called the operation "unsuccessful" but acknowledged casualties among its fighters.
In a statement distributed online on Thursday by supporters, it said US gunships had shelled areas around the prison to prevent the arrival of reinforcements, then clashed with militants for two hours.
The statement confirmed US claims that some guards had been killed and others detained in the operation.
"Dozens" of US troops were involved in the mission, a US defence official said, declining to be more specific about the number.
"It was a deliberately planned operation, but it was also done with the knowledge that imminent action was needed to save the lives of these people," the US defence official said.
The US serviceman was shot during the mission and taken to the Kurdistan regional capital Irbil, where he died, the US defence official said. He was the first American serviceman killed in ground combat in Iraq since the United States withdrew its forces in 2011.
US Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for US-led coalition in Iraq, said the possibility that Americans were among the hostages was not a consideration in carrying out the operation.
Some of the rescued people said the militants had told them they would be executed after morning prayers, Warren said.
The US forces were acting as advisors then were sucked into the battle when Kurdish fighters came under heavy fire, he explained.
"They were pinned down and they were beginning to take casualties, so the Americans in the heat of battle made a decision," he said.
Cook said he was not aware at this point that there were any Americans among those who were rescued. "My understanding is there was no indication there were specifically Americans present here.
"The understanding was that there were a number of hostages, although we were not sure exactly who was among that group, but that they had been held there for some time and again the information we had received ... was that those hostages did fear for their lives, that there was the threat of a mass execution perhaps within hours."
He said the mission had been requested by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Sources in the Hawija area said they heard blasts and gunfire overnight and that militants had withdrawn from view after the raid, apparently relocating their bases.
Five US helicopters launched from Irbil were involved in the mission, and the United States was providing helicopter lift, intelligence support, air strike support, and advisory support to the peshmerga, the US defence official said.

• MENA