Islamic State kills Navy SEAL

Militants breach lines with mortars and truck bombs.

WASHINGTON — An Islamic State offensive in northern Iraq repeatedly broke through Kurdish lines with truck bombs and mortars early Tuesday, killing a Navy SEAL 2 or 3 miles behind the front lines, U.S. officials said.

As the militants attacked several towns, the U.S. Air Force scrambled F-15 fighter jets and armed drones to help Kurdish ground troops fight back. The warplanes launched 25 airstrikes, officials said.

The Islamic State attack appeared aimed at pushing back the slow Kurdish and Iraqi encirclement of Mosul, the extremist group’s self-declared capital in Iraq and the largest city under its control. The group has lost significant territory in northern and western Iraq in the past year.

The SEAL was advising Kurdish fighters, known as peshmerga. He was reportedly shot and killed as militants stormed the town of Teleskof, 14 miles north of Mosul.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said the Navy SEAL, identified as Charlie Keating IV, 31, died near Irbil. He is the grandson of Charles Keating Jr., who died at age 90 in 2014 after going to prison for his role in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, according to The Associated Press. Keating’s high school track coach said the SEAL had planned to get married in November.

In a statement, Islamic State said its fighters had attacked three towns with “remotely-controlled, bomb-laden” vehicles, as well as cannons and mortars. The statement said the militants seized weapons and ammunition from Kurdish barracks and bases before retreating.

“It is a combat death,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in Stuttgart, Germany, where he is meeting European allies and attending a change of command at U.S. military headquarters in Europe.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the killing and has extended condolences to Keating’s family, said Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman.

Earnest declined to say if the death was evidence that U.S. troops are moving closer to the front lines.

“The president’s been clear time and time again exactly what their mission is,” he said. “That mission is to support Iraqi forces on the ground who are taking the fight” to Islamic State.

“They are not in a combat mission,” he said. “But they are in a dangerous situation. And they are in a dangerous place.”

The U.S. airstrikes destroyed several trucks and two bulldozers that the militants apparently were using in the attack, according to U.S. officials. They said at least 21 militants were killed.

The fighting comes as Prime Minister Haider alAbadi’s government struggles to stem unrest in Baghdad. Over the weekend, protesters loyal to a Shiite cleric stormed the socalled Green Zone government complex and occupied Parliament overnight. Islamic State claimed responsibility for multiple attacks in the capital that killed several dozen people.

Three members of the U.S. military have been killed and 14 wounded in fighting since the Obama administration began its war against Islamic State in August 2014.

ALICE MARTINS/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Iraqi soldiers fire artillery last month at Islamic State positions near Mosul, the group’s self-declared capital in Iraq. The Navy SEAL killed Tuesday was an adviser, officials said.