Nearly 70 hostages facing “imminent mass execution” have been rescued from an Islamic State jail in a raid by Kurdish troops and US special forces

Nearly 70 hostages facing “imminent mass execution” have been rescued from an Islamic State jail in a raid by Kurdish troops and US special forces in northern Iraq, according to US and Kurdish officials.

 
The operation on Thursday also led to the first American combat death in Iraq since 2011.
 
The pre-dawn raid targeted a school near the northern town of Hawija that was believed to have been used as a base by senior military commanders from the group. There were unconfirmed reports that one of Isis’s most senior leaders, Nema Arbid Nayef al-Jabouri, was one of the targets of the raid.
 
Jabouri, also known as Abu Fatima was not present when US, Kurdish and Iraqi troops descended on the small village of Fedeekha east of the town, Iraqi officials said.
 
But commandos freed dozens of Arab Iraqis who were being held prisoner at the school, including members of the Iraqi security forces, local residents and Isis fighters held as suspected spies.
 
The US government said the operation had been planned and launched at the urging of Kurdish officials after they received reports that the hostages “faced imminent mass execution”.
 
Locals near Hawija said the special forces troops arrived in Chinook helicopters, which landed at around 4am – about an hour after roads to the area had been bombed by coalition fighter jets.
 
One US soldier was wounded and subsequently died after coming under fire from the Isis compound, the Pentagon said. Four Iraqi troops were also wounded.
 
An Iraqi official told the Guardian that the Hawija raid had been launched after intelligence had pinpointed Jabouri’s location. Kurdish officials said they had uncovered specific information about the prisoners’ whereabouts and the fact that they were in immediate danger.
 
“They believed there were up to 20 Isis commanders there,” the officials said. “They also knew the prisoners faced a big risk.
 
In a statement, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said 69 prisoners had been freed, adding that “an initial examination showed there are no Kurds among the rescued hostages.”
 
In a statement, the Pentagon said that five members of Isis were captured and an undisclosed number of others killed. It claimed the raid had yielded a mass of intelligence information.
 
The raid is believed to be the first to be launched inside Iraq since US troops returned to the country to tackle Isis, which rampaged through northern and western Iraq from June last year.
 
It is only the second to have taken place in the 14 months since then; in May, a US special forces operation in neighbouring Syria killed a senior Isis official responsible for oil trade, and captured his wife.
 
Barack Obama’s deputy spokesman Eric Schultz said the operation had been authorized by secretary of defense Ash Carter.
 
“It was authorized consistent with our counter-Isil effort to train, advise, and insist Iraqi forces,” he said. “The president has been clear that our men and women who serve in uniform have a narrow mission set in that part of the world … but there’s still nevertheless inherent risks, and last night unfortunately we saw a very tragic example of how that still exists.”
 
Schultz maintained that American troops would not be serving “in a combat role” in the region, but the expectation would continue that they would engage in special forces operations, humanitarian rescues and other counterterrorism missions.
 
After more than a year of setbacks, Iraqi troops have in recent weeks begun to claw back losses in the centre of the country. The Baiji oil refinery, which Isis seized last summer, was returned to state control earlier on 17 October after a series of intensive battles over many months.
 
Additional reporting by Mais al-Baya’a and Shalaw Mohammed
 
 

A senior commander of the Kurdish peshmerga forces confirmed an operation had taken place but provided no further information.



Photograph: Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images
 
 
http://www.theguardi...tages-isis-iraq

I believe this was mentioned here 3-4 days ago, if I'm not mistaken-

I love how our administration try's to split hairs so they can say our troops are not in a combat role. They are sent in harm's way, receive a campaign ribbon, combat pay, wear a full combat load out, are subject to enemy attack day and night, and go into battle with allied troops, but they are not there in a combat role.

First off, I don't care for our 'type' of gov, #2, I don't listen to our gov, #3, I don't believe in our gov, and #4, I don't listen to our gov, and last of all,#5, I don't believe anything this crooked gov has to tell me or anyone else-It is a total 'puppet' show, and nothing else, it always has been, and always will be-We'd be better off with 'Ronald Mcdonald'-  Our gov is nothing but a bunch of liars and thieves-