Las Vegas soldier dies in Iraq attack

A soldier from Las Vegas was killed this week in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, Defense Department officials said in a news release Friday.

Army Sgt. Alfred G. Paredez Jr., 32, died Tuesday in Baghdad from wounds he suffered when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, according to the Pentagon’s news release.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas.

Attempts to reach his family in Las Vegas and Fort Hood were unsuccessful, and few details about the attack were available Friday.

However, the only roadside bomb attack announced by the Multi-National Corps Public Affairs Office out of Camp Victory, Iraq, in which a U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday involved a device known as an explosive-formed penetrator.

The bomb detonated near a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad, killing one U.S. soldier, who wasn’t identified, and wounding three others. An Iraqi interpreter also was killed in the attack, according to the Multi-National Corps statement. “The patrol was returning to base after conducting an escort mission at the time of the attack,” it read.

Paredez is the 56th U.S. military member with ties to Nevada who has died in wars overseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0308.