US military identifies third service member killed in Iranian attack on Jordan base

Sgt Angel S Pampersad also believed to be dead in attack that killed two others, raising death toll to 18 troops since start of Iran war

The US military has confirmed that a third service member is believed to be dead in Friday’s attack on a base in Jordan and identified them as Sgt Angel S Rampersad, 28, of New York.

The confirmation brings the death toll to 18 US service members killed since the war began.

On Monday, the Pentagon identified 1stLt Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, as the two other soldiers who were killed in Jordan in Friday’s attacks. The soldiers were killed by Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in the first troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war. They were deployed to support a US mission against the Islamic State group, a US central command statement said.

After the attack, US central command announced that two service members were killed and another was missing. The following day, the military command said that troops found unidentified remains and that an examination process to verify the remains was under way.

Now, the Pentagon says that Rampersad is believed to be that missing soldier and her official status is now “Duty Status-Whereabouts Unknown”, and she is “believed to be deceased”.

Rampersad belonged to the same unit as Gonzales – the 10th Army Air + Missile Defense Command based in Ansbach, Germany.

Another US soldier killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone was identified as Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton , a 30-year-old father from North Carolina who had served for nearly a decade, according to a military statement and his family.

Renewed fighting between the US and Iran is now in its 10th day, with both sides launching barrages of strikes. Iran has attacked US allies in the region, and American soldiers are stationed across the Middle East.

Iranian authorities say US strikes in just the past three weeks have killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 500 others.

Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people. Workers on ships, as well as foreign workers and others in Gulf nations, Israel and Lebanon, have also died in the conflict.