The First American Soldier Was Just Killed in Iraq Since Combat Ended in 2011 [Update]

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters stand guard with their weapons as they patrol the front line with the Islamic State group in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014. The tense standoff frustrates many of the young soldiers, away from their families now for several months, even as other units make gains with the help of U.S. and French airstrikes. AP Photo/Hadi Mizban

The first American soldier to be killed in Iraq since 2011 was during a mission to free approximately 70 hostages who faced imminent execution by ISIS terrorists, American officials confirmed. The raid, which took place early Thursday morning local time, raises questions about whether the United States contradicted its “no boots on the ground” mandate.

The operation calls into question the mission of Operation Inherent Resolve authorized by President Barack Obama last year to conduct targeted airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS).

At the time, Obama stressed that no ground troops would be sent in to fight.

Since it’s the first mission that has resulted in the death of an American solider, it’s sure to raise questions about whether Obama’s mandate was violated. The raid is believed to be the first launched inside Iraq since American troops returned to contain ISIS, which took over swaths of northern and western Iraq starting in June 2014.

There have been a number of conflicting reports about who the actual rescued hostages were.