WASHINGTON — A roadside bomb explosion in northern Iraq killed a 34-year-old Navy sailor from California, the Pentagon said Friday, in the first U.S. casualty in the Iraqi-led offensive to retake the city of Mosul from Islamic State.
Chief Petty Officer Jason C. Finan of Anaheim died Thursday after his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device near the town of Bashiqa.
Finan was assigned to an Explosive Ordnance Disposal mobile unit based in Coronado. The unit is assisting Iraqi Kurdish forces known as peshmerga in the push to recapture Islamic State's self-declared capital in Iraq.
Finan is the fourth U.S. service member killed in the conflict against Islamic State since President Barack Obama authorized military action in August 2014 and sent troops back to Iraq.
"The entire Navy Expeditionary Combat Command family offers our deepest condolences and sympathies to the family and loved ones of the sailor we lost," Rear Adm. Brian Brakke, commander of Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, said in a statement.
After enlisting in August 2003, Finan received 18 awards in his military career. He served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, according to military records.
The Pentagon has deployed more than 5,000 troops in Iraq. Most serve as trainers and advisers, but some are working closely with front-line Iraqi and Kurdish troops advancing on Mosul.