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A detachment of U.S. Marines is on the ground in Iraq to support U.S. and coalition efforts against the Islamic State group, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
A group of Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU, will add to the U.S. forces already in Iraq battling the extremist group, it said.
The 26th MEU is currently deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, which covers the Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean.
Late last month the United States also sent 200 elite forces to lead ground operations
A U.S. Marine who was part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group was killed in a rocket attack by the militant group in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said in a statement on Saturday.
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It was the second combat death of an American service member in Iraq since the start of the campaign to fight the militant Islamic State group.
The Marine, who was providing force protection fire, died in the rocket attack at a base near Makhmur, a town between the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.
Cook did not identify the Marine who had been killed. He said several other Marines had been wounded and were being treated for injuries.
The U.S.-led air coalition has killed an estimated 1,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria since August 2015. On Saturday, suspected U.S.-led airstrikes in Mosul reportedlu killed 25 or more civilians.
The United States has only admitted to killing 21 civilians since it began airstrikes 18 months ago.
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