UPDATE - US soldier killed in Iraq

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By Kasim Ileri

WASHINGTON (AA) – A U.S. soldier was killed Thursday in a blast in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

“A U.S. service member died from wounds sustained in an improvised explosive device blast in northern Iraq,” according to a Central Command statement.

CENTCOM did not disclose the exact location of the blast nor details about the soldier but a defense official said in an email to Anadolu Agency that the blast “occurred in the north of Mosul” and was part of part of U.S forces enabling and advising Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces to retake the city from Daesh.

The soldier’s death is the fourth U.S. casualty in Iraq since 2014 when it launched an offensive against Daesh.

More than 5,000 U.S. forces are in Iraq to train and advice Iraqi troops in their fight against Daesh.

The Pentagon has insisted that U.S forces are not on the front line.

Iraqi forces accompanied by Kurdish peshmerga fighters and the U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on the Iraqi city of Mosul on Monday to free it from Daesh.