WASHINGTON (AP/LEX 18) — Defense officials have identified a service member killed Monday in a helicopter crash in Iraq as a soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The Department of Defense said Tuesday that 34-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 3 Taylor J. Galvin died of injuries after the crash in Sinjar, Ninevah Province, Iraq. It said the incident remains under investigation.
Galvin was from Spokane, Washington, and assigned to the 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
Galvin was killed and three others were wounded Monday in a helicopter crash in Iraq, where a U.S.-led coalition is battling the remnants of the Islamic State group, the Pentagon said.
The cause of the crash was being investigated, but Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said there were no indications that it was caused by hostile fire. He said three service members were evacuated from the crash site for further medical treatment.
Manning said the forces were “conducting a partnered counterterrorism mission” against the Islamic State group.
The coalition said the crash happened shortly after midnight.
It was the 14th U.S. service member fatality in the war against IS this year, according to the tracking site iCasualties.
Seven were killed in a helicopter crash in March in Iraq’s eastern Anbar province, where American operations have been concentrated in recent months. That crash also was not the result of enemy fire, and is believed to have been caused when the Pave Hawk hit power lines.
Coalition forces rescued personnel following the crash, the coalition statement said.
