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Marine from Riverside County killed by Islamic State forces in Iraq

By W.J. Hennigan
 and Harriet Ryan
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U.S. military officials have identified the American serviceman killed in a firefight with Islamic State forces as a Marine from Riverside County.

Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, 27, of Temecula, died coming under Islamic State rocket fire in northern Iraq. His unit, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was at a recently established coalition “fire base” near Makhmur, the Pentagon said. Several other Marines were wounded and they are being ‎treated for their injuries.

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The U.S. military had not disclosed the presence of American troops in the region, raising fresh questions about U.S. participation in the fight against Islamic State to aid partners in its ground offensive against the militants. The U.S. has maintained an advisory and backup role, delivering airstrikes, training and financial support to proxy ground forces.

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On Sunday, the Pentagon issued a statement announcing it assigned a detachment of U.S. Marines to the support of Iraqi Security Forces and coalition ground operations. The statement did not say how many Marines were involved, nor did it disclose details of their mission.

There are currently about 4,000 U.S. troops deployed to Iraq to confront Islamic State.

Cardin was the second American serviceman to die in combat in Iraq since the U.S. withdrew from the country in 2011. Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler died in a raid against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq in October.

Twitter: @latimesharriet

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W.J. Hennigan

W.J. Hennigan covered the Pentagon and national security issues from Washington, D.C., before leaving the Los Angeles Times bureau in November 2017. While there, he reported on war, counter-terrorism, and the lives of American service members from more than two dozen countries and previously covered the aerospace and defense industry from Los Angeles. Hennigan earned awards from the National Press Club, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and was a contributor to the Los Angeles Times coverage of the terror attacks in San Bernardino that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2016.

Harriet Ryan

Harriet Ryan is an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the paper in 2008, she has written about high-profile people, including Phil Spector, Michael Jackson and Tom Girardi, and institutions, including USC, the State Bar of California, the Catholic Church, the Kabbalah Centre and Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin. Ryan won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with colleagues Matt Hamilton and Paul Pringle in 2019. She and Hamilton won the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability in 2023. She previously worked at Court TV and the Asbury Park Press. She is a graduate of Columbia University.

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