Update: US serviceman killed by enemy fire in northern Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Enemy fire killed an American serviceman in northern Iraq, a statement by the US military said on Tuesday.

“A coalition service member was killed in northern Iraq as a result of enemy fire,” said the statement by combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve.

In Germany, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter also announced the death, saying it happened “in the neighborhood of Erbil,” capital of the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.

“It is a combat death, of course. And a very sad loss," Carter told reporters in Germany, where he is discussing security issues with European officials.

Military sources in the area told Rudaw that the incident happened in the vicinity of Tel Skuf, about 28 kilometers north of Mosul. The body of the dead soldier was retrieved by a US helicopter, military sources on the scene said. 

“It is believed that almost 400 ISIS militants participated in Tuesday’s clashes in Nawaran and Tel Skuf frontlines,” Rudaw correspondent Ayub Nasri said.

Tuesday’s death would be the second of a US serviceman in northern Iraq since March, when a Marine was killed in an ISIS mortar attack on an Iraqi military base in Makhmour, some 50 kilometers south of Erbil.

Last month, the US agreed to deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq, the first major increase in US forces in nearly a year, according to US defense officials.