3rd ID soldiers trickle home

About 550 Georgia-based soldiers are back home. They are Army helicopter crews who deployed to Iraq last year with the 3rd Infantry Division. About 1,150 more troops are scheduled to return to Hunter Army Airfield at Savannah between tomorrow and Saturday. It's the third time the Fort Stewart-based 3rd ID has deployed to Iraq since its troops helped lead the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Columbus soldier killed in Iraq

Sgt. Darren Dhanoolal. (Photo: Kynesha Dhanoolal)

Sgt. Darren Dhanoolal, of Columbus was killed on Monday in the Baghdad area when a roadside bomb exploded by an armored vehicle he was driving.

The Army has not yet released an official statement of Dhanoolal's death, although his family has been notified.

Dhanoolal and his wife were last together during Christmas, and was due back in the States in several weeks, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer newspaper.

His body was flown back to the States on Wednesday, and funeral arrangements are being made.

Dhanoolal was 26-year-old.

Ft. Benning officials say 74 of their soldiers have been killed since their first deployment to Iraq five years ago, and 25 from Dhanoolal's brigade since last March.

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