Airman KIA - Pakistan Hotel blast

[Bluehawk]

Rest in peace...

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Airman among dead in Pakistan hotel blast - Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times
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"At least two U.S. troops died in Saturday’s suicide bombing at a luxury Pakistani hotel popular with foreigners. One of the dead is an Air Force officer; the other has yet to be identified.

The deaths caused confusion as scores of news agencies reported Monday that the two dead were Marines. Some publications reported the bombing was targeting Marines.

Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriquez, 34, of El Paso, Texas, died Sept. 20 in Islamabad from injuries sustained in an improvised explosive device attack, according to the Defense Department. Rodriquez served with the 86th Construction and Training Squadron based out of Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

“He was in the area assisting with the training of Pakistani forces,” said Ramstein spokesman Aaron Schoenfeld.

Schoenfeld said at least one other service member died in the attack, but he was unsure what branch of service that person served in. The Corps, however, says no Marines died in the blast.

“We read the same thing first thing today and checked on it. It’s incorrect,” Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Carl Redding said. “There were no Marines killed or injured in connection with the attack in Islamabad this weekend.”

A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into an upscale Marriott hotel in the capital of Islamabad on Saturday, killing at least 53 and injuring more than 200. The hotel is one of the primary meeting points for foreigners in Pakistan.

In a country accustomed to a rash of suicide bombings in the past several years, the toll of the blast had commentators referring to it as Pakistan’s 9/11.

The blast killed the Czech Ambassador to Pakistan. A handful of news outlets are reporting that up to 30 Marines who allegedly recently stayed in the hotel were the target. The Corps declined to comment on whether Marines stayed on the hotel.

Marine Corps Times counted at least a dozen news agencies from the Middle East, Asia and Europe that had reported on two dead Marines on Monday.

Redding said internal checks by the Corps indicate no Marine Corps security detachment personnel were injured or killed in the bombing. The Corps would not discuss if Marines were recently at the hotel.

“We are not in a position to state whether Marines were staying in or near that site, and we do not discuss living arrangement for Marines assigned to post overseas,” Redding said in an e-mail. “I realize there has been some shoddy reporting, but there is no truth to “two Marines dead” storyline. It is not true.”

Redding said Marine Corps Times was the first outlet to call the Marine Corps to confirm if Marines died in the attack, despite some reports that the Pentagon had confirmed the two dead Marines.

The bombing of the posh American hotel occurred just days after the U.S. military’s top officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Pakistan following confirmation from U.S. officials that military units in Afghanistan had targeted militants in Pakistan.

The bombing occurred as State Department officials recover from the brazen attack on the embassy in the capital of Yemen last week. At least 18 people, including an American, were killed when terrorists attacked the embassy on Sept. 17."