The US Department of Defense announced Tuesday evening that Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, was killed two days ago during a controlled explosion of a suicide drone that had been downed at the Erbil air base in northern Iraq. The announcement follows earlier identification of the soldier.
The Pentagon provided new details Tuesday evening on the death of Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, confirming he was killed two days ago during a controlled explosion of a downed suicide drone at the Erbil air base in northern Iraq. The announcement, which specifies the cause of death, follows earlier identification of the soldier by the US military earlier Tuesday, as The Zioneer reported at 17:03 Jerusalem.
On Sunday evening, The Zioneer published a series of updates on the incident: initial reports of a US soldier killed in a drone explosion (i24NEWS), CENTCOM confirmation of a death in northern Iraq, US Army confirmation of a soldier killed in a controlled drone explosion, a New York Times report citing a US official that the soldier was struck by debris rather than being a bomb technician, and then identification of the soldier by the Pentagon and the US military — all at 22:14 Jerusalem.
The Zioneer has previously reported on the broader context of drone threats in the region, including a separate incident earlier this week in which a US soldier was killed and another wounded during a controlled drone disposal in northern Iraq, as well as analyst reports of suicide drone strikes in Erbil.
The Pentagon did not attribute the downed drone to a specific actor in the latest announcement. The circumstances of the controlled explosion remain under investigation, and no further details on the drone's origin have been released.
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