Washington, Oct 22 (EFE).– A special forces operation in Iraq to free Kurdish troops led to the rescue of 70 hostages and the death of the first American service member in direct combat with the Islamic State, the U.S. Defense Department said Thursday.

The mission was carried out Thursday at the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq to free a group of Peshmerga who had been captured by IS fighters near the oil-rich Hawija area of northern Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

The operation, in which U.S. helicopters provided support for Kurdish special forces, was “deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution,” he said.

A U.S. service member sustained a gunshot wound during the raid and later died, becoming the first American soldier killed in the more than year-long U.S.-led campaign against the IS in Iraq, which has mainly involved airstrikes and the training and advising of Iraqi forces.

Five IS fighters were captured and an unspecified number were killed, while 20 members of the Iraqi security forces were among the 70 hostages freed, the Pentagon spokesman said.

“The U.S. recovered important intelligence” about IS as a result of the operation, in which four Peshmerga – as the military forces of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan are known – were wounded, Cook said.

U.S. special forces have engaged in combat with IS fighters during other missions, but Thursday marked the first time such fighting has resulted in the death of an American soldier.

Since the U.S.-led intervention against the IS began in 2014, the Obama administration has sought to restrict the role of American forces to airstrikes and the provision of training and assistance to local forces, both in Syria and Iraq. EFE