A US service member has died from wounds sustained in an improvised explosive device blast in northern Iraq, the US-led military coalition says.
A US defence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Thursday's incident took place near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, currently the scene of a major offensive to oust Islamic State militants controlling it.
Roughly 5000 US forces are in Iraq. More than 100 of them are embedded with Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces involved with the Mosul offensive, advising commanders and helping them ensure coalition air power hits the right targets, officials have said.
The statement did not identify the service member.
This is the fourth US service member to be killed since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2014, focused on fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon this week played down any new role for US forces in Iraq's battle to retake Mosul and said they would be behind the forward line of troops.
But as the United States has increased its presence in Iraq this year to help in the Mosul fight, officials have acknowledged Americans will be "closer to the action."
