Guardsman in Washington's 81st Brigade killed in Iraq

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Friday, May 28, 2004

Guardsman in Washington's 81st Brigade killed in Iraq

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES

EXETER, Calif. -- A 19-year-old Army specialist deployed in Iraq with the Washington National Guard has been killed in a rocket attack that injured eight other soldiers at their base 25 miles south of Baghdad.

His death came in one of the deadliest months for National Guard and Reserve troops since the Iraq war began.

Unger and other soldiers were sleeping in their tents when the rockets struck at 3:55 a.m. Baghdad time, according to National Guard spokesman Tech. Sgt. Hughan.

The official death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq reached 800 yesterday. Twenty-two National Guard troops have perished in May -- more than one in three of the 69 deaths so far this month.