Military: Troops slain by truck bomb were paratroopers from 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg

Members of 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, breach a house to search for insurgent activities during an operation in Diyala on March 29.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The nine U.S. soldiers killed when a truck bomb exploded next to their patrol base in Iraq were all paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the division said Tuesday. Twenty of their colleagues were wounded in the attack.

Maj. Tom Earnhardt, a spokesman for the division at Fort Bragg, said it was the highest number of casualties for the division since the Iraq war began...

The paratroopers' unit deployed in August to Iraq. In all, the division has four brigade combat teams in Iraq or Afghanistan, plus a supply brigade in Iraq and an aviation brigade split between Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of the roughly 18,000 paratroopers in the division, only about 6,000 remain at Fort Bragg, and 3,500 of those are scheduled to deploy to Iraq early this summer.

Read the rest at the San Diego Tribune

Related Link:
9 U.S. soldiers die, 20 wounded after truck bomber attacks patrol base in Diyala

Related Link:
Official: 3,500 paratroopers' deployment extended through December; Most of Fort Bragg's force 'will be gone' by winter