Roadside bomb in Afghanistan kills third Bravo Company Marine in Hawaii-based unit
A member of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, has died of injuries from a roadside bomb that went off while he was on foot patrol in southern Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Thursday. It was Bravo Company’s third recent fatality.
Lance Cpl. Noah M. Pier, 25, of Charlotte, N.C., was killed Tuesday. Another Marine, whose name was not released, suffered severe facial wounds and was airlifted to a military hospital.
Pier’s death came in the same week that The Times published a story about the dangers facing Bravo Company Marines on foot patrol in an area of Helmand province riddled with roadside bombs and where support for the Taliban is strong.
In January, Lance Cpl. Timothy Poole, 22, of Bowling Green, Ky., and Lance Cpl. Jacob Meinert, 20, of Fort Atkinson, Wis., were killed in separate incidents while on patrol. Lance Cpl. Mark Juarez, 23, of San Antonio, also with the Hawaii-based regiment but in a different company, was killed the same month when a roadside bomb exploded beneath his vehicle.
Marines continue to patrol on foot in Helmand, searching for roadside bombs and attempting to win favor with residents. Capt. Tom Grace, Bravo Company commander, said such patrols are essential to the Marines’ mission.
Since the launch Saturday by U.S., British and Afghan troops of an offensive to oust the Taliban from its stronghold in the Helmand town of Marja, militants have been planting explosives, at times minutes after a road has been inspected and declared bomb-free.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization reported late Thursday that four more of the alliance’s service members had died during the day in southern Afghanistan, three killed in two roadside bomb attacks and a fourth slain by small-arms fire, the Associated Press reported.
The international coalition did not disclose the troops’ nationalities, but Britain’s Defense Ministry said two British soldiers were among the dead, the news service reported.
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