US SEAL killed in Iraq part of ‘quick reaction force’

The U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in Iraq was part of a quick reaction force responding to U.S. troops pinned down in combat, according to the coalition on Wednesday. 

The U.S. special operations force responded after U.S. troops in a Kurdish village were involved in a heavy firefight with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters Tuesday morning.

{mosads}”The service member who was killed was part of the quick reaction force that responded when the advise and assist team in Tal Asquf became embroiled in the firefight,” said Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the anti-ISIS coalition. 

“There was a big fight. You know, they were in contact. They couldn’t get away. So the QRF [quick reaction force] came to help ensure that they were able to get away.”  

Warren said the mission of the quick reaction force is to “quickly react with force to situations that arise.”

“So in this case it is a group of very well armed, very well equipped, very well trained American service members whose mission is to standby, stand at the ready when American forces are operating,” Warren said.

The White House said Tuesday that the SEAL, identified as Charlie Keating IV, was “advising” Kurdish peshmerga forces on the ground.

“Those terrorists, after breaking through the line, went on to attack a peshmerga position, where this U.S. service member was advising our partners on the ground,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

He also stressed that U.S. troops in Iraq did not have a “combat mission,” thought he did acknowledge that Keating died in “combat.”  

Warren also gave new details about how the firefight unfolded. 

A force of about 125 ISIS fighters secretly assembled several truck bombs, bulldozers and infantrymen to punch through the peshmerga’s front line, and sprint towards Tal Asquf, where a team of U.S. forces were advising and assisting forces. 

Peshmerga forces from several outposts in the area than generated their own forces, “in the hundreds,” for a counterattack.

The quick reaction force, which was designed to help the U.S. advise-and-assist team if they ran into trouble, then sprang into action after the advisers were drawn into a gunfight with ISIS forces.

“When the fire erupted, the quick reaction force quickly reacted and, you know, came to the battle and provided the additional firepower and maneuver that was required to extract the remainder of our personnel,” Warren said. 

The force got the U.S. team out of the area “within the first couple of hours.” Keating was hit by gunfire, and was evacuated to a medical facility in Erbil. 

The helicopters that evacuated the SEAL were damaged by small arms fire, Warren added.

The fight continued through 9:30 p.m. local time, supported by U.S. airpower. The coalition used a mix of 11 aircraft that included F-15s, F-16s, some B-52s and A-10s, and two drones to conduct 31 airstrikes. 

The airstrikes destroyed 20 ISIS vehicles, two truck bombs, three mortar systems, and one bulldozer. Fifty-eight ISIS fighters were killed, Warren said.  

He added that there were peshmerga casualties, but the forces regained control of Tal Asquf. 

“It was a big fight, one of the largest we’ve seen recently,” said Warren. He said the last comparable ISIS attack occurred on December 16 near Tal Aswad. That attack came in response to losing control of Ramadi, he said. 

Warren said ISIS forces likely launched Tuesday’s attack in response to a string of recent territorial losses to Iraqi forces. 

“This enemy wanted to stage a relatively high-profile, high-visibility attack that would distract peoples’ attention away from the beatdown that they’ve been taking everywhere else,” Warren said. 

But he added, “everybody understands that ISIL really is on the their back foot here and this, while certainly a relatively significant tactical event, has no lasting operational value to this enemy.”

The administration has repeatedly stressed that the approximately 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq do not have a “combat role” or “combat mission.” Rather, it insists those forces are advising and assisting Iraqi forces. 

Warren said the advise-and-assist mission is a “relatively small” part of the U.S. force in Iraq.

“Certainly, the advise and assist piece is also a very critical part of what we do here. But proportionally, it’s relatively small,” he said.

Warren said of the troops authorized in Iraq, “only several hundred” are part of the advise-and-assist mission; the largest group of U.S. forces in Iraq provide protection for other U.S. troops.  

“The overall largest group are security protection for the advisers and assisters,” Warren said.

This story was updated at 3:48 p.m.