Tri-Service

Footage Released Of "Hostage Rescue Raid" On IS Jail

A video has been released which purportedly shows a joint raid by US and Kurdish forces on an IS-held prison in Iraq.

Around 70 hostages held by Islamic State are said to have been rescued in the operation, but one US soldier was killed, the first American to die in combat against ISIS as part of the US Operation Inherent Resolve.

The raid took place last week in the town of Hawija, nine miles west of the city of Kirkuk.

It’s the first time US troops have been involved in direct ground combat in Iraq since the operation against Isis began in August 2014.

US officials said the plan for the rescue mission had called for the US troops, members of the elite Delta Force unit, to stay back from the prison compound and let the Kurdish forces do the fighting.

The US troops transported the Kurds to the prison in five US helicopters, but they were then drawn into the fight to help the Kurdish soldiers.

The video was released by the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq. It appears to be filmed from the helmet camera of a Kurdish soldier, whose gun can be seen pointing at a barred window through which a glow is emanating, possibly from a fire.

One after another the prisoners are seen running out of the prison past the camera. Some have their hands up and scream ‘let’s go, let’s go’ in Arabic.

There’s constant gunfire throughout the video as soldiers are seen walking through a dark room with a Isis flag up on the wall. The hostages are frisked for weapons and led out of the building.

US officials have said that 30 troops from Delta Force on an "advise and assist role" participated in the raid when Kurdish commandos were overwhelmed after entering the walled compound on their own.

A U.S. Special Forces commander on the ground made the decision to directly engage Isis fighters during the overnight mission.

Officials later said that about 20 of the hostages freed were members of the Iraqi security forces. They added that they were all on the verge of being executed and dumped in mass graves, after having been accused of spying and treason by Isis militants.

All hostages were rescued unharmed. But US Army soldier, Master Sgt Joshua Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Oklahoma was killed during the operation.

He was shot inside the compound, badly injured and flown to Irbil, where he died. A member of the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force, his death has raised questions about the nature of U.S. involvement in the fight against Isis.