Islamic State kills US Navy SEAL in northern Iraq
Islamic State militants killed a US Navy SEAL in northern Iraq on May 3 after blasting through Kurdish defenses and overrunning a town in the biggest offensive in the area for months, officials said.
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The elite serviceman was the third American to be killed in direct combat since a US-led coalition launched a campaign in 2014 to "degrade and destroy" Islamic State and is a measure of its deepening involvement in the conflict.
"It is a combat death, of course, and a very sad loss," US Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters during a trip to Germany.
The Islamic State insurgents occupied the town at dawn on May 3 but were driven out later in the day by the peshmerga.
Carter's spokesman, Peter Cook, said the incident took place during an Islamic State attack on a peshmerga position some 3 to 5 km behind the forward line.
