US Central Command Air Forces officials say two US Air Force personnel assigned to the 586th Expeditionary Mission Support Group have been killed and a third injured on Jan. 22 by an improvised explosive device. They were on convoy escort duty near Taji, Iraq. The names are being withheld, pending notification of next of kin.
The Air Force in October carried out a homeland defense mission, with jets including F-16 Fighting Falcons, in Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands to show a base there could safeguard the northern regions.