KABOL, AFGHANISTAN. (THECOUNT) — Paratrooper Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz has been identified as the soldier killed Thursday in Afghanistan by an vehicle-borne IED while near a vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Ortiz, 34, was killed when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan.
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The paratrooper is the third U.S. soldier to die in Afghanistan in a little more than a week. A Romanian service member was also killed in the attack. Their deaths come as Taliban representatives and U.S. diplomats work to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The incident is under investigation, according to a Pentagon statement, reports ArmyTimes.
The ongoing attacks have caused some within the Afghan and U.S. governments to worry that any deal negotiated with the Taliban, whose spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack that killed Ortiz, cannot be trusted.
He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Ortiz joined the Army in August 2010 and completed basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Eustis, Virginia, before being assigned to the 359th Transportation Battalion, according to an 82nd Airborne Division release.
Geo quick facts: Fort Bragg, North Carolina is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and, by population, is the largest military installation in the world with more than 50,000 active duty personnel. The installation is located within Cumberland, Hoke, Harnett, and Moore counties – Wikipedia.