Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage
Three soldiers from the First Stryker Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Wainwright were killed today by an improvised explosive device in the city of Spin Ghbarga, Afghanistan while conducting a mounted patrol.
A fourth Soldier, assigned to the unit the Stryker Brigade is replacing, was also killed. Two other Soldiers from the brigade were wounded in the same incident.
Major Bill Coppernall is a U.S. Army spokesman. He said the men from the Brigade were only there a short while.
Coppernall says there is little more information on the nature of the incident.
The 4,000-Soldier brigade began deploying to Afghanistan in mid-April for a one-year tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The brigade’s last deployment was to Iraq during 2008 and 2009 during which the unit experienced five combat deaths and two non-combat deaths.
The names of the Soldiers are being withheld pending notification of the families.
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