Hostages saved from death by commandos
UNITED STATES and Iraqi special forces rescued 69 hostages from imminent death at the hands of Islamic State – but the raid claimed the life of the first American soldier to die fighting the jihadist group.
The high-risk mission took place in Iraq, where the US is scrambling to regain the initiative. Washington faces the possibility of losing its status as Baghdad’s key ally as members of Iraq’s ruling coalition call for Russia to join its fight against Isis.
The raid involved 30 US commandos, who flew in under cover of darkness, and Iraqi Kurdish special forces. America provided Black Hawk helicopters with rotor blades adapted to emit minimal noise, and Apache attack helicopter support.
Their target was a prison compound near the village of AlHilwa, about seven kilometres from the northern Iraqi town of Hawija, in land controlled by Isis.
The US commando was shot in a gunfight that broke out as soon as the US and peshmerga commandos landed inside the compound. He was the first US soldier to be killed in action in Iraq since the US withdrew in 2011.
The raid was launched after it was learnt that the hostages faced what the Pentagon described as ‘‘imminent mass execution’’. They included more than 20 members of the Iraqi Security Forces.
Six Isis terrorists were captured and more than 20 killed, Kurdish officials said.
The mission was supported by US air strikes that closed roads to the area.
In radio messages intercepted by the peshmerga, Isis fighters said gas had been used to incapacitate them.
The US troops were selected from a unit based in Iraq that includes US Navy Seals, the US Army Delta Force – the country’s prime hostage rescue unit – and US Marines.
The US has previously confirmed launching special forces missions against Isis in Syria but not within Iraq.
US Delta Force commandos failed in an attempt to free western hostages in Syria last year because the captives had been moved.
In May, a Delta Force raid killed Abu Sayyaf, a key financier for Isis, and captured his wife.
The latest raid came days after members of Iraq’s ruling coalition government and powerful Iranbacked militia groups repeated calls for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to ask Russia to launch airstrikes on Isis.
Russia’s entry late last month into the conflict in neighbouring Syria on the side of the Assad regime appears to have animated the US. Washington is said to have been infuriated after Russia created a joint operations room in Baghdad with Iraq, Iran and Syria.