The Kurdistan Region Security Council has released a video that appears to show Thursday's rescue of 69 hostages from ISIS in a joint operation with the U.S. that also left an American soldier dead.
The helmet-camera video shows civilian men quickly filing through the prison in Hawija, Iraq amid what sounds like gunfire. In one room, the black flag used by ISIS hangs on a wall. In another room, the former prisoners are patted down; an American soldier can be heard speaking in the background.
The overnight mission saved hostages who were in "imminent danger" of execution by ISIS, U.S. officials later said. Kurdish officials said more than 20 ISIS fighters were killed, and six were taken captive.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said a "significant cache" of intelligence was gathered in the raid.
Three Peshmerga soldiers from Kurdistan were injured in the operation, and U.S. Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, was killed. It was the first U.S. combat death in Iraq since 2011.
Wheeler, who was assigned to the Army's Special Operations command, had deployed three times to Afghanistan and Iraq.
LINK: U.S. Soldier Killed During Hostage Rescue Mission In Iraq Has Been Identified
LINK: Defense Secretary Defends Ground Missions In Iraq After Death Of U.S. Soldier In Hostage Rescue
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1KzvCjw
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