An American and British soldier died during a training exercise in Iraq, their respective officials said.
The announcements, from U.S. Army Central and the British Ministry of Defense, were sparse on details. The deaths occurred on Sunday during a training exercise at an air base in Erbil, located in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The United States and United Kingdom boosted their presence in the region to help combat ISIS, though they have also come under attack from Iran-allied Shiite fighters.
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“The training was conducted with our British Army partners who also lost a soldier. The incident is under investigation,” the ARCENT statement read, adding that the soldier’s identity would be withheld for 24 hours until their family could be notified.
The British Ministry of Defense’s statement was nearly identical.
U.S. and British troops have been under increased stress in recent months as they’ve come under retaliatory attack from Iran and its proxy fighters, the most powerful of which are based in Iraq. The same day as the soldiers’ deaths, Iranian forces reportedly launched attacks on U.S.-backed Kurdish paramilitary forces in northern Iraq.
The U.S. and U.K. have been steadily drawing down their forces in Iraq after the degradation of ISIS and fully withdrew all forces from Syria in April after over a decade.
