Oct. 24 (UPI) — Two U.S. soldiers wounded in a raid targeting Islamic State leaders in Iraq earlier this week are heading to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for care, Pentagon officials said Thursday.
The two unidentified soldiers were injured by an explosion while assisting Iraqi forces with site exploitation during a joint operation on Tuesday.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters during a Thursday press conference that both soldiers were en route to the military medical facility in Bethesda, Md. She said they had sustained serious injuries but were in stable condition.
She added a third U.S. soldier was being assessed for a potential traumatic brain injury.
“All are in stable condition and receiving the care that they need,” she said.
The U.S. soldiers were wounded during a joint operation with Iraqi security forces targeting senior ISIS leaders in the Hamrin Mountains of northern Iraq.
The operation consisted of airstrikes and raids on multiple known ISIS locations, resulting in the deaths of at least seven ISIS operatives, Singh said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani of Iraq announced following the operation that Jassim al-Mazrouei Abu Abdul Qader, ISIS’ Iraqi leader, was among the dead.
“We commend the effort of the heroes of all our security forces and reaffirm that there is no place for terrorists in Iraq,” al-Sudani said in a statement.
“We will pursue them to their hideouts and eliminate them until Iraq is cleansed of them and their heinous acts.”
Singh announced Thursday that U.S. forces participated in an Iraqi-led operation against ISIS in western Anbar province. The results of the operation were still being assessed, she said, resulting in zero U.S. casualties.
As of August, there are some 40,000 U.S. service members in the Middle East.