ISIS called the joint U.S.- Kurdish raid to rescue dozens of hostages, who officials said were about to be executed by the militant group in Iraq, a failure and cowardly operation, NBC News reported.
U.S. officials said on Thursday that one American commando had been shot to death in the firefight at a prison in the town of Hawija, 34 miles southwest of Kirkuk.
American military officials said they responded to a request from The Kurdish regional government in Iraq, which had learned that the hostages faced "imminent mass execution."
"Mass graves were already dug," according to a senior U.S. military official with direct knowledge of the raid.