Mr Fallon is travelling to Stuttgart to meet US Secretary of Defence Ash Carter as well as counterparts Jean-Yves Le Drian and Ursula von der Leyen from France and Germany, and representatives from Australia, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark and Spain.
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A coalition military official said a United States service member was killed by “direct fire” after “enemy forces penetrated” the Kurdish peshmerga forces’ line.
A senior official within the Kurdish peshmerga forces facing IS in northern Iraq said Keating had been killed near the town of Tel Asqof, around 28 kilometres from the militant stronghold of Mosul.
The SEAL reportedly was killed by “direct fire,” suggesting the fatality occurred in close contact with the enemy, USA defense officials said.
The US-led coalition of more than 60 nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Daesh in Syria and Iraq since summer 2014.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the incident and extended condolences to the SEAL’s family.
Britain could send hundreds more troops to Iraq in training roles to boost the fight against so-called Islamic State, a defence source has told the BBC.
Army Master Sgt Joshua Wheeler died in October during a special forces mission to rescue hostages held at an IS prison near Hawija, west of Kirkuk.
In March, Marine Staff Sgt Louis Cardin was killed in a rocket attack by IS while providing force protection fire support at a coalition firebase near Makhmour, south-west of Mosul, that had only become operational a few days earlier.
“The U.S. responded with an F15s and drones which dropped more than 20 bombs, according to the U.S. official”. The SEAL was among Americans advising the peshmerga during that battle.
The American service member’s death occurred during a surprise Islamic State attack on the town of Tal Asqaf, said Jawad Habib, a colonel with a mostly Christian militia fighting Islamic State in northern Iraq’s Nineveh Plains.
The new firebase is part of a creeping USA buildup in Iraq since troops first returned to the country with a contingent of 275 advisers, described at the time by the Pentagon as a temporary measure to help get “eyes on the ground”. Since 2014, three US service members have been killed in the war against ISIS.
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The peshmerga then made a “tactical retreat” to reorganize their forces, he said. The militants used a combination of heavy weapons, vehicle-borne and body-borne suicide attackers in attempts to breach the frontline held mainly by Peshmerga forces backed by US advisers and coalition airstrikes.
