live for us in washington this morning with more on this unfolding story. good morning, garrett. good morning. this raid on an isis compound in northern iraq saved the lives of around 70 hostages who were facing imminent mass execution by the terrorist group according to the defense department. you can see in this new helmet cam video of the raid, many of those freed prisoners running through the compound to safety led by dozens of u.s. special operations troops and kurdish forces. you can see the isis flag on the wall as soldiers worked their way through the compound. and hear the sound of constant gunfire throughout the rescue operation. [ gunfire ] the defense department tells us those isis forces had already prepared graves for those prisoners. and were set to film the mass execution for propaganda video. a number of terrorists were killed. five were captured. and we re told u.s. forces recovered important intelligence about isis. the raid also claimed the life of one u.s. comm
in northern iraq yesterday by u.s. and kurdish commandos master sergeant joshua wheeler was shot and killed by isis fighters. defense officials say 39-year-old elite commando, a father of four, charged into the heat of battle during that mission that rescued 70 hostages who faced imminent mass execution. the death of wheeler has raised a lot of questions as the stated u.s. mission in iraq is to train and advise local forces against isis, not engage in combat. today defense secretary ash carter admitted this was in fact combat. citing the intelligence they gained from the raid, saying there would be more of this sort of thing. they will be in harm s way. there s no question about it. and i don t want anybody to be under any illusions about that. but this was an opportunity in which the capabilities that we uniquely possess could have a material effect. it was the risk associated with that there was. but again, all i can say is from the reports i ve received i m immensely proud of