STUTTGART, Germany — Defense Secretary Ash Carter says an American serviceman has been killed near Irbil in Iraq.
Carter revealed the death at the outset of a news conference Tuesday in Stuttgart, Germany, where he has been consulting with European allies.
Carter said “it is a combat death,” and it was later revealed that the victim was Navy SEAL Charlie Keating IV.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced late Tuesday afternoon that Keating died in an Islamic State group attack near the city of Irbil.
The person was an adviser to Peshmerga forces, but was back a bit from the front lines, as is standard practice. The enemy broke through the front lines of the Peshmerga and the American was killed in resulting firefight. The U.S. responded with an F15-a and drones which dropped more than 20 bombs. There’s no word on any Americans wounded.
Ducey ordered all state flags be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset Wednesday in honor of Keating, who was a graduate of Phoenix’s Arcadia High School.
The 31-year-old Keating attended the Naval Academy before becoming a Navy Seal based out of Coronado, California.
Keating’s grandfather, Charles H. Keating Jr., who died in 2014 at age 90, was the notorious financier who served prison time for his role in the costliest savings and loan failure of the 1980s.
Vice President Joe Biden visited Baghdad last week to exhort leaders of the government in Iraq to resolve internal political strife and concentrate on the effort to defeat the Islamic State group.
Carter, likewise, visited Baghdad recently. The Obama administration has been pressing the effort against IS, which has been slowed down in its quest to overrun Iraq.
Carter presided earlier at a ceremony installing a new commander of U.S. European Command, Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti.
Information from CNN is included in this report.
