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Two US soldiers were killed and five others were wounded while they were conducting oprations in northern Iraq, the US military said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the released statement, “initial reports indicate the incident was not due to enemy contact”.
No details have been released so far. The incident remains under investigation.
“The entire counter-ISIS Coalition sends our deepest condolences to these heroes’ families, friends, and teammates,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, according to the statement. “There are no words to describe the respect I have for you and sorrow I have for your loss. I hope there is some small solace in knowing their loss has meaning for our country and all the nations of the Coalition as the fallen service members were fighting to defeat a truly evil enemy and to protect our homelands.”
According to the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq, the US troops were killed and injured as result of the terrorist group’s shelling near Tal Afar.
ISIS allegedly shelled a gathering of US soldiers near al-Bwair village east of Tal-Afar town with Grad rockets. According to Amaq, 4 US soldiers were killed and 6 others were injured. Amaq also mentioned that ISIS fighters tracked and monitored the US soldiers from the air mostly using a small drone.
The town of Tal Afar is the last major ISIS stronghold in northern Iraq. The Iraqi Army and the US-led coalition are preparing for a large-scale operation to liberate the area.
Troops of the US-led coalition against ISIS are actively operating in Iraq and Syria and even direclty egange ISIS terrorists at frontlines. However, the US military prefers to hide such facts.
