A US-backed rescue operation freed 70 hostages from an Islamic State prison in Iraq and captured five militants, the Pentagon said Thursday, confirming that a US service member was killed.
"This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution. It was authorized consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, using an alternate acronym for IS.
A US-backed rescue operation freed 70 hostages from an Islamic State prison in Iraq and captured five militants, the Pentagon said Thursday, confirming that a US service member was killed.
“This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution. It was authorized consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advise, and assist Iraqi forces,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, using an alternate acronym for IS.
