US identifies soldier killed destroying downed Iranian drone in Iraq

Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton died during controlled detonation, bringing total of US personnel killed in war to 17

The US military has identified an army soldier killed recently during a controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone in Iraq as Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton, of Fayetteville, North Carolina.

According to a press release from the US defense department on Tuesday morning, the 30-year-old Swinton was supporting overseas contingency operations in Iraq - and he was killed in action during a controlled detonation of a downed One-Way Unmanned Aerial System" on Saturday at Erbil airbase in northern Iraq.