Pentagon says 2 US military personnel killed in Nangarhar, Afghanistan

Department of Defense spokesperson Navy Capt. Jeff Davis on Thursday, April 27 said two US military personnel were killed and one wounded fighting ISIS-K in Achin, Nangahar province, Afghanistan. The service members were killed in an overnight raid conducted with Afghan National Defense and Security Forces on April 26. The Pentagon identified the two US soldiers as Army Rangers Sgt. Joshua P. Rodgers and Sgt. Cameron H. Thomas of the Army’s 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment based in Ft. Benning, Georgia. Davis said they may have come under friendly fire during the raid and an investigation was underway.

The region is a stronghold for the group known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, an affiliate of the core group in Iraq and Syria. Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, who was with 7th Special Forces Group, was killed on April 8 fighting in the same area. On Friday, the Pentagon said the raid targeted the Islamic State’s local emir, Abdul Hasib, at a known ISIS-K compound. Capt. Jeff Davis said it was not clear if Hasib was killed but 35 “operatives” died in the operation. The incident occurred in the same area where US dropped the massive GBU-43 MOAB bomb on April 13, targeting a village and tunnel system used by ISIS-K. Tolo News released footage of the site of the GBU-43 blast: