A U.S. service member was killed during operations against the Islamic State in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the Pentagon said, describing it as a "combat situation."
The American troop died from injuries sustained when his patrol triggered an improvised explosive device, or IED, in the Achin district of the Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan earlier Tuesday, according a statement released by U.S. Forces Afghanistan.
When asked whether he could describe the casualty as a combat death during an afternoon briefing, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters, "This was a combat situation."
"This was a service member who faced risk alongside Afghan partners," Cook stated. He said that no additional U.S. troops or Afghan forces have been reported injured by the IED.
Cook also said that he is unaware of any indication that the patrol was specifically targeted. He also could not answer whether any other enemy contact was made.
U.S. and Afghan personnel are engaged in a counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan targeting the Khorasan Province, the ISIS offshoot in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We are targeting ISIL in Afghanistan, we have soldiers in harm’s way," Cook told reporters at the Pentagon, using another name for ISIS. He noted that the death of the American troop in Afghanistan "highlights the risk that our service members are taking every single day."
Cook emphasized Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s commitment to going after ISIS wherever it "metastasizes."
The Defense Department is withholding the identity of the service member pending notification of his family. It is unclear what service in which the American was enlisted.