Exclusive footage obtained by The Guardian shows the Islamic State attack that resulted in the death of a Navy SEAL in Iraq on Tuesday.
The video, filmed on a cell phone, shows the firefight between U.S. special operations forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Islamic State forces.
Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Charles Keating IV was part of the quick reaction force that swooped in to aid the pinned-down fighters. He became the third U.S. serviceman to die in Iraq since 2014 as a result of that firefight.
In the video, the Kurdish Peshmerga unit of four-by-four vehicles comes under fire near Tel Osqof, a town north of Mosul. At least six U.S. troops are seen taking cover behind an unarmored pickup truck.
Lieutenant Saad, the peshmerga fighter who shot part of the footage, credited U.S. forces for saving their lives against the ISIS fighters: “If it was not for the American firepower, we would have more casualties. They are really good fighters.”
Though the U.S. officials have stopped short of saying the military is involved in a combat mission in Iraq against ISIS, Defense Secretary Ash Carter described Keating’s death as “a combat death, of course.”
Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said Keating was there in support of a U.S. “advise and assist” mission that “just happened to be in that village” meeting with peshmerga leaders in Tel Osqof when the firefight happened.
The visible faces of the U.S. military members have been blurred out, per a Pentagon request.
View the footage of the firefight here.
