Iraqi special forces commandos join battle for Mosul, as first US soldier dies

In a significant escalation of the battle for Mosul, elite Iraqi special forces joined the fight, unleashing a pre-dawn assault on an Islamic State-held town east of the besieged city, while the US military announced the first American combat death since the operation began.

US officials said the American service member died Thursday from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb explosion north of Mosul. More than 100 US special operations forces are embedded with Iraqi units in the offensive, and hundreds more are playing a support role in staging bases.

The American had been operating as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist in support of the Iraqi Kurdish force known as the peshmerga, the US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss details.

Roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices pose a particular danger to advancing Iraqi forces and the US advisers who are with them. The Islamic State group, which has occupied Mosul for more than two years, has prepared extensive defences in and around the city.

As they charged toward the town of Bartella, 15km from Mosul’s outskirts, the Iraqi special forces faced another favoured weapon in the IS arsenal: armoured trucks packed with explosives and driven by suicide bombers. The militants’ signature battlefield tactic, the weapons offered a glimpse at what Iraqi forces can expect as they close in on the extremists’ biggest urban bastion.

The pre-dawn assault on Bartella was part of a multi-pronged operation on eastern approaches to Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Attack helicopters strafed militant positions as they advanced amid a hail of gunfire.