The U.S. Department of Defense has identified the soldier who had been listed as missing following a recent attack on a Jordanian air base and now believes she was killed in the strike.
Sgt. Angel Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, is presumed dead after the July 17 assault on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. She had initially been reported missing following the attack.
According to the Defense Department, Rampersad served with the 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command.
Two other service members were killed in the same aerial strike, which the U.S. military has attributed to Iran. The Pentagon previously identified them as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, per The Dallas Express. Additional service members were wounded in the attack.
Unidentified remains were recovered on Sunday and were undergoing examination, officials said. The Defense Department has disclosed limited information about the assault, saying only that ballistic missiles and drones were used.
Rampersad is the 18th U.S. service member to die since the start of the Iran war and one of five deaths announced by the Pentagon in recent days.
Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton was killed Saturday during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone, according to the Defense Department. The Pentagon also reported that U.S. Navy Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, a pilot, died earlier this month after an MH-60S helicopter made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea.
Those losses were the first reported since the opening days of the conflict, when 13 U.S. service members were killed.
