US military confirms 3rd soldier killed in Iran-linked attack in Jordan, death toll hits 18
US military identifies 3rd service member believed to have been killed in Iranian attack. (Photo: AP)The US military has confirmed that a third soldier is believed to have died in Friday’s attack on a base in Jordan, naming her as Sergeant Angel S Rampersad, 28, of New York, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Her confirmation takes the total number of US service members killed since the war began to 18.
Who were the other soldiers killed in Jordan?
On Monday, the Pentagon named First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, as the two other soldiers killed in the Friday attack, AP reported. They died in an Iranian ballistic missile and drone strike, marking the first direct troop deaths from Iranian fire since the war’s opening days.
A US Central Command statement said the soldiers had been deployed to support a US mission against the Islamic State group.
What happened to Sgt Rampersad?
Central Command had first said two service members were killed and one was missing after the attack, AP reported. The following day, troops found unidentified remains, and checks to confirm them were carried out. The Pentagon now believes Rampersad was the missing soldier; her status has been changed to “Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown,” and she is believed to be deceased. She served in the same unit as Gonzales, the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, based in Ansbach, Germany.
A US soldier killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone was named as Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, a father from North Carolina who had served for nearly ten years, according to a military statement and his family. Swinton will receive a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant after his death on Sunday at an air base in Irbil, which the Army said it is investigating. He leaves behind a six-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter.
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Brigadier General John L Dawber, commanding general of the Army Air and Missile Defence Command, said, “He answered the call to duty with courage, honour, and selfless dedication,” according to AP.
Swinton enlisted in the Army in 2017 and was assigned to the 55th Air Defence Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defence Artillery Brigade, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, AP reported. He lived in Spring Lake, near the base, though the military listed his hometown as Fayetteville.
How is the wider conflict unfolding?
The renewed fighting between the US and Iran is now in its eleventh day, with both sides carrying out repeated strikes, AP reported. Iran has attacked US allies across the region, while American troops remain stationed throughout the Middle East. Iranian authorities say US strikes over the past three weeks have killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 500. Both sides have hit civilian infrastructure used by millions of people, and ship workers, foreign nationals and others in Gulf states, Israel and Lebanon have also died in the fighting.
The US State Department has warned Americans that Iran and groups linked to it may target US interests and citizens anywhere in the world. President Donald Trump has said the war is needed to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, though AP reported he now faces pressure to end the conflict and avoid the kind of long Middle East war he had campaigned against. The fighting has pushed oil prices higher in recent weeks.
