4 Fort Lewis soldiers killed

FORT LEWIS, Wash. – Four Stryker Brigade soldiers died this week in a bombing in Iraq, including two previously awarded the Purple Heart, increasing total losses from this Army post near Tacoma to seven in less than a week.

The latest casualties were Staff Sgt. Jacob M. Thompson, 26, of North Mankato, Minn.; Sgt. Nicholas A. Gummersall, 23, of Chubbuck, Idaho; Cpl. Juan M. Alcantara, 22, of New York City; and Spc. Kareem R. Khan, 20, of Manahawkin, N.J., according to a news release Thursday from Fort Lewis spokeswoman Catherine A. Caruso.

The four members of Company B, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were killed when a blast destroyed a house they were clearing in Baqouba, Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, operations chief of the offensive in Baqouba, told KIRO Radio of Seattle. An interpreter also was killed, and 12 soldiers were injured in the explosion, Bednarek said.

Thompson and Khan had been awarded the Purple Heart for injuries from previous combat.

Three members of Company A from the same battalion were killed in a roadside bombing Aug. 2 in east Baghdad.

Gummersall, whose death was reported earlier by his father, Clay Gummersall, to the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello, Idaho, enlisted Oct. 1, 2002, and completed Army Ranger training at Fort Benning before arriving at Fort Lewis on May 24, 2004. He was switched from a Ranger unit to the Stryker Brigade in June 2006, the same month the unit was assigned to Iraq.