US service member killed by roadside bomb in northern Iraq

A U.S. military member was killed by a roadside bomb Thursday in connection with the Iraqi effort to retake the key city of Mosul, marking the first American combat casualty in the long-planned push against the Islamic State group.

U.S. officials said the American was in a vehicle north of Mosul when he was hit. He later died of his wounds. His identity was being withheld pending notification of his family. Pentagon officials had acknowledged at the outset of the Iraqi-led offensive that U.S. special operations troops advising Iraqi security forces and Kurdish militia fighters could be injured or killed.

Roadside bombs and other emplacements of improvised explosive devices pose a particular danger to advancing Iraqi forces and the U.S. advisers who are with them. The Islamic State group, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years, has prepared extensive defenses in and around the city.