The US military identified the soldier killed Sunday during the controlled disposal of an Iranian drone in Erbil, Iraq, as Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of North Carolina.
The US military has identified the soldier killed Sunday during the controlled disposal of an Iranian drone in Erbil, Iraq, as Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of North Carolina. The identification, which now includes the soldier's home state, follows the Pentagon's release of his name on Sunday evening, as The Zioneer reported at 22:14 Jerusalem time.
On Sunday evening, the sequence of reports began with CENTCOM confirming a US soldier was killed in northern Iraq. The US Army then officially confirmed the death occurred during a controlled explosion of a downed Iranian drone. The New York Times, citing a US official, later reported that Swinton was not a bomb technician but was struck by debris or fragments from the detonation. The Pentagon subsequently released his name as Sgt. Michael Emanuel Swinton, 30. The current update adds that he was from North Carolina.
The incident comes amid a broader period of US casualties in the region. As The Zioneer reported, three US soldiers were killed in the 24 hours leading up to Sunday evening, including the remains of a soldier found in Jordan after an Iranian missile strike and this death in Iraq. Two soldiers killed in the Jordan strike were identified on Monday as Pvt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Texas.
The circumstances of the drone disposal incident remain under investigation. It is not yet known what caused the detonation to be lethal, and whether any procedural or technical factors contributed to the death.
5 developments
- StrongUS Army confirms body of missing soldier found in Jordan, reports another soldier killed in Iraq
- DevelopingAnalyst Chananel Aviv reports suicide drone hits in Erbil, northern Iraq
- StrongUS Identifies Both Soldiers Killed in Iranian Strike on Jordan Base: Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Hawaii, and Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Texas
- DevelopingShiite sources report downing of US MQ-9 Reaper drone over Karbala, Iraq
Source and signal
- Internal intake