The St. Petersburg Times reported Tuesday afternoon that an airman assigned to MacDill AFB, Fla., has died from injuries sustained by an improvised explosive device outside of Baghdad Tuesday local time. The newspaper cites a US military spokeswoman as confirming the airman’s death. The airman’s name is being withheld pending notification of the family, it said. MacDill is home to the 6th Air Mobility Wing as well as US Special Operations Command. According to an Associated Press report earlier on Tuesday, a total of four US servicemen—apparently including this airman—died in two separate IED attacks in Iraq Tuesday local time.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.