Two U.S. Army soldiers were killed and another five injured in Iraq Sunday while “conducting combat operations” according to a U.S. Central Command news release. A CENTCOM official told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the Army artillery unit was engaged in a “counter-fire mission against an ISIS mortar site when an explosion occurred.”
Although the report said that the artillery unit was “conducting combat operations” when the apparent accident occurred, the official said that ISIS was not believed to have been directly responsible for the explosion. CENTCOM does not consider “counter-fire” missions to be “direct combat.” Stars and Stripes reported that it was an “artillery mishap.”
It is unclear how many such “counterstrike” operations take place against ISIS in Iraq and Syria as part of Inherent Resolve because, as the daily strike reports note, “Ground-based artillery fired in counter-fire or in fire support to maneuver roles are not classified as a strike as defined by [CENTCOM].” Certain other types of operations described in press releases, such as forces “engag[ing] an ISIS tactical unit” are not considered direct combat either, although “engaging a tactical unit” is counted as a “strike.”
Until the middle of February, daily strike reports from CENTCOM contained the following statement [emphasis added]:
Since Feb. 14, however, that statement has not appeared in the strike reports. When asked about the change, the CENTCOM official simply said that “[t]his incident does not indicate a change in the Coalition’s operations in Iraq and Syria.”
The two soldiers killed Sunday were identified as Sergeant Allen L. Stigler Jr. and Sergeant Roshain E. Brooks, paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division. Injuries to the other five soldiers were not considered life threatening.
