The United States military has deployed more Marines to Iraq to boost forces already stationed there.
Pentagon said Sunday that an undisclosed number of soldiers from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are on a mission to help US forces already deployed in Iraq.
The decision follows this weekend’s deadly Daesh (ISIL) rocket fire killing a Marine and seriously injuring some others in northern Iraq.
Officials said Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, of Temecula, California, died on March 19 from wounds suffered when his unit was hit by a rocket. The incident is under investigation.
Cardin was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The attack occurred at the Makhmour base outside the ISIL-held city of Mosul.
The latest deployment comes despite President Barack Obama’s numerous pledges that there would be no “boots on the ground” in the so-called US-led coalition’s fight against the…