Pentagon identifies Marines killed in 'intense' clash with ISIS fighters in Iraq
Pentagon,National Defense,Marine Corps,Middle East,Iraq,Terrorism,ISIS,US Military,Defense And Security
The Pentagon has identified two US Marines who were killed in Iraq on Sunday in what is being called one of the "most intense" battles US forces have been involved in recent months, according to the US-led coalition.
Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Diego D. Pongo, 34, of Simi Valley, California, and Capt. Moises A. Navas, 34, of Germantown, Maryland, were killed in a joint Iraqi-US helicopter assault on a suspected ISIS-occupied cave complex in the Makhmur Mountains of northern Iraq.
"This was one of the most intense clashes with ISIS that coalition troops have participated in in several months," Col. Myles Caggins, the chief coalition spokesman, told CNN.
The mission began with several dozen Iraqi counterterrorism forces, along with approximately a dozen special forces Marines traveled by helicopter to the area where intelligence showed 15 to 20 ISIS fighters had hidden.
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