A joint American-Kurdish raid freed 69 hostages from captivity in a prison controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Iraq on Thursday, U.S. and Kurdish officials confirmed.
The raid, carried out by U.S. special forces, Kurdish Peshmerga forces and supported by U.S. airstrikes, took place in the early hours of the morning near the northern town of Hawija, situated approximately 39 miles southwest of the historical Kurdish capital of Kirkuk.
A statement released by the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) confirmed that 69 hostages were freed, six ISIS members were captured and more than 20 militants were killed in the operation.
The Pentagon said that the operation was carried out to prevent the deaths of the hostages.
"This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution," a statement read.
Twenty of the hostages rescued were members of the Iraqi security forces and a number were civilians, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, Al Jazeera reported.
"The U.S. provided helicopter lift and accompanied Iraqi Peshmerga forces to the compound," Cook said, adding that U.S. involvement in the mission came at the request of the Kurdish Regional Government that oversees the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
"This was a unique circumstance in which very close partners of the United States made a specific request for our assistance," he said. "So I would not suggest that this is something that's going to now happen on a regular basis."
The New York Times reported that freed hostages had been told by ISIS militants that they were to be executed at dawn on Thursday after morning prayers and that graves had already been dug for them.
An American commando became the first U.S. serviceman killed in the campaign to defeat, the Pentagon confirmed.
The soldier, yet to be identified, is the first U.S. combat death in Iraq since the U.S. withdrawal in November 2011.
The U.S. has retained a force of 3,500 troops in the country in a training and advisory capacity. This raid marks the first time that U.S. troops have joined Iraqi forces on the ground in a battle against ISIS militants.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
