“Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Oklahoma, died Oct. 22, in Kirkuk Province, Iraq, from wounds received by enemy small-arms fire during an operation,” the release said.
On Thursday, the US Central Command confirmed that a Special Operations team carried out a rescue mission together with Iraqi counterparts near the town of Hawija in northern Iraq.
Some 70 hostages allegedly held by the Islamic State (ISIL) terrorist group were set free. One US soldier, Wheeler, was killed during the raid and four Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were wounded.
"We are proud of the combined forces who conducted the mission to rescue these Iraqi hostages,” the Central Command said in a statement on Friday. “Their courage, skill, and sacrifice narrowly prevented yet another brutal massacre by Daesh [Islamic State] murderers.”
The IS is an Islamist militant group in control of large areas in Syria and Iraq. The group is notorious for its brutality and public mass executions, as well as for its global recruiting efforts via social media.
