Cardin and his fellow Marines were providing “force protection fire support” for the base, the Pentagon said in a statement, meaning they were defending it during the attack.
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Cardin’s detachment, from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, had been steadily flowing into a base near Makhmur, Iraq over the past few weeks.
The U.S.-led coalition has reported that the build-up of Iraqi troops at Makhmour in preparation for an assault on Mosul has brought a spike in the frequency of such indirect fire attacks.
A 27-year-old Marine from Temecula was killed by enemy forces in northern Iraq on Saturday.
Warren said a squad-sized unit of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, fighters managed to get within small-arms range of the firebase and positions of the 15th Iraqi Army Division before two were killed and the rest were driven off.
The Makhmur base is home to the Ninevah Operations Center and serves as a launch pad for the Iraqi army’s anticipated offensive to retake Mosul from ISIS.
It was the second combat death of an American service member in Iraq since the start of the campaign to fight the militant group. US forces believe ISIS fighters saw the Marines “firing practice rounds with their howitzers”. “His death reminds us of the risks that we all face here”, Warren said. He was a decorated Marine with many awards, including the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medal, three Marine Corps Good Conduct medals, and three Afghanistan Campaign medals, among others.
Officials speaking to the Marine Corps Times confirmed Sunday that the U.S.is sending another detachment of Marines from Cardin’s unit to Iraq to support the mission against ISIS.
“The forces of occupation are making a new suspicious attempt to restore their presence in the country under the pretext of fighting their own creation, Daesh”, Iraqi Asa’ib Al al-Haq forces said Tuesday.
He would not give the exact number of USA troops now in Iraq but said “we’re within the cap”.
USA officials did not specify the precise role of the Americans serving on the base.
Warren declined to say whether the Marines were planning to accompany the Iraqi forces into battle, insisting he did not want to telegraph future operations against ISIS.
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“This is the first time that we’ve established a spot that’s only American”, Col. Steve Warren, a coalition spokesman, told reporters from Baghdad. He joined the Marines in June 2006 and was trained in field artillery, according to Stars and Stripes.
