U.S. Marine from Temecula killed by ISIS rocket attack in Iraq

LOS ANGELES (CNS / FOX 11) - A highly decorated Marine from western Riverside County was killed by ISIS fighters in northern Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense said Sunday.

Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin of Temecula, 27, died Saturday from wounds suffered when his military unit was hit by rocket fire, the Pentagon said. He was in Makhmur at the time of the attack, a city southeast of Mosul, according
to Stars and Stripes, a U.S. Army-owned newspaper.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told CNN that Cardin was "providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in northern Iraq.''

The incident remains under investigation.

Cardin was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He joined the Marines in June 2006. Cardin has been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, three Afghanistan Campaign medals, an Iraq Campaign Medal and three Sea Service Deployment ribbons, according to Stars and Stripes.

U.S. officials announced Sunday that they are sending a detachment of Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Iraq to augment those who are already there fighting ISIS, according to the Marine Corps Times.

The U.S. troops are assisting Iraqi forces trying to take back territory in Iraq from the Islamic extremist group.