American soldier is killed when his car is blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq as he helped Kurdish forces in fight against ISIS.

An American soldier has died in Iraq after being blown up in his car by a roadside bomb. 

The man, who has not been named, was in the town of Bashiqa, northern Iraq, working alongside Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to recapture the ISIS stronghold of Mosul. 

 

He was killed while travelling in a vehicle by a roadside bomb, officials confirmed on Thursday. 

The man was an working as an explosive ordnance disposal scientist, dismantling and disposing of bombs in the war torn region. 

 

 

An American soldier has died while working alongside Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the ISIS stronghold of Mosul, northern Iraq. Peshmerga soldiers are seen above firing a rocket launcher as they continue in their bloody fight for the region.

 

He was the fourth U.S. combat death in Iraq since the U.S. began military operations against the Islamic State with airstrikes in August 2014. 

 

 

In October 2015, Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed when he and dozens of other U.S. special operations forces participated in a raid alongside Iraqi Kurdish forces to free ISIS-held prisoners.

Months later, Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed when ISIS fighters attacked a fire base in northern Iraq, and in May, Navy SEAL Charles Keating was killed in a firefight near Tel Askuf, also in the north.

It was not immediately clear whether other U.S. service members were hurt in the bomb attack Thursday. 

Roadside bombs and other emplacements of improvised explosive devices pose a particular danger to advancing Iraqi forces and the U.S. advisers who are with them. 

 

 

Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed when ISIS fighters attacked a fire base in northern Iraq.

 

 

ISIS has occupied Mosul for more than two years and has prepared extensive defenses in and around the city.

More than 100 U.S. special operations forces are operating with Iraqi units, and hundreds more are playing a support role in staging bases farther from the front lines.

U.S. Central Command announced the death in a brief statement saying the service member was wounded by an 'improvised explosive device.'

The assault on Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, is bringing American forces into their most significant role in Iraq in years.  

There are approximately 4,800 U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the Pentagon.

That doesn't include another 1,500 troops considered there 'on temporary duty,' whose number changes daily, according to the U.S. officials.