US-backed raid in Iraq frees 70 IS hostages
US-backed raid in Iraq frees 70 IS hostages
A US-backed operation has freed 70 hostages in Iraq from an Islamic State group prison after information indicated they were about to be executed, the Pentagon said on Thursday
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Kurdish Peshmerga forces led the raid on the prison [Getty]
A United States backed rescue operation freed 70 hostages from an Islamic State group [IS] prison in Iraq and captured five militants, the Pentagon said on Thursday, confirming a US service member was killed during the operation.
The US service member is the first to be killed in operations against IS since it began last year.
"This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.
"It was authorised consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces," Cook added, using an alternate acronym for the IS.
The raid targeted an IS-run prison in Hawija, near the Kurdish-held town of Kirkuk, the BBC reported.
US helicopters transported a force of Kurdish commandos backed by US forces to the site, the organisation added.
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