Navy SEAL killed in Iraq during firefight
3rd service member to die in combat since campaign began ID’d as Keating grandson
The combat death highlights the evolving nature of the Pentagon’s mission and how troops are serving closer to the front lines.
BAGHDAD — A U.S. Navy SEAL was killed Tuesday in an attack by Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq, highlighting the evolving nature of the Pentagon’s mission in Iraq and how American troops are serving closer than ever to the front lines.
The SEAL was identified as Charlie Keating IV, 31, grandson of the Arizona financier involved in a 1980s savings and loan scandal. He was killed by enemy fire about 9:30 a.m., U.S. military officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The death occurred after Islamic State fighters north of Mosul penetrated a front line of Kurdish peshmerga forces by about three miles, a U.S. military official said.
The SEAL was the third U.S. service member killed in combat since the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic State began in June 2014.
The first, Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, was a member of the elite Delta Force who was killed in a raid Oct. 22. But the latest two deaths show the kind of threats faced by the bulk of U.S. troops advising Iraqi soldiers near the front lines with the Islamic State.
A Kurdish official said the death occurred after Islamic State fighters began attacking peshmerga lines at dawn near the town of Telskuf, about 20 miles north of Mosul, the Islamic State’s main stronghold in Iraq.
The attack involved “truck bombs supported by infantry,” the official added, an indication that common conventional Islamic State tactics were likely used.
Mortar rounds and artillery began hitting front lines near Telskuf, the largely Christian town, around 4 a.m., according to Kurdish officers and members of the Christian militia that hold the ground there.
After bombarding the area on Tuesday, the militants launched a multi-pronged attack on Telskuf at around 5:30 a.m. from three or four directions, using hundreds of fighters, commanders said.
Maj. Gen. Azad Jalil, a peshmerga officer, said they breached Kurdish front lines with more than 10 car bombs, also using bulldozers to push through.
The peshmerga then made a “tactical retreat” to reorganize their forces, he said. Islamic State militants overran the village.
Brig. Gen. Bahnam Aboush, a fighter with the Christian militia based in the town and known as the Nineveh Plain Protection Units, said his men tried to hold their ground but were overwhelmed.
“We tried to fight them, but we couldn’t due to our limited capabilities,” he said. “We have only some old rifles we bought from our own money.”
He said he witnessed the attack that mortally wounded the Navy SEAL, when a U.S. military contingent came to assist their struggling forces.
“American special forces came to rescue us in four vehicles,” he said. “They opened the way for us to retreat, then one of their vehicles was hit” with a rocketpropelled grenade.
He said that one U.S. service member was seriously injured and was airlifted out by helicopter. “I heard he died after,” he said.