(Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Daniel Parrott)

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced Tuesday that another U.S. service member was killed by “direct fire” while engaging ISIS militants in northern Iraq. The service member name, branch and service are not being released until the family is notified.

Carter didn’t release many details, but he did say the death was “a very sad loss.”

Pentagon officials told NPR that the service member was sent to Iraq to “advice and assist” Kurdish forces. The routine assist mission became full blown combat when ISIS militants broke through Peshmerga lines.

“The casualty occurred during an ISIL attack on a Peshmerga position approximately 3 to 5 kilometers behind the forward line of troops,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook says in an official statement released this morning. He adds, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the servicemember’s family.”

Kurdish news site Rudaw reports, “the incident happened in the vicinity of Tel Skuf, about 28 kilometers north of Mosul,” adding that the service member’s body was recovered by a U.S. helicopter. A Rudaw correspondent says nearly 400 ISIS fighters are believed to have been involved in the fight.

The United States retaliated by bombarding ISIS fighters with two dozen air strikes from F-15s and drones.

Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler became the first U.S. service member killed fighting the Islamic State in October. He, too, was participating in an “advise and assist” mission. Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed in an indirect fire attack in March.

We’ll update this post when we have more information about this tragic casualty.

[NPR]