14 Sep 2006

Samoan death tally now nine after a soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan

3:57 pm on 14 September 2006

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that Sergeant First Class Michael Fuga of American Samoa was killed in during an encounter with enemy forces in Kandahar in Afghanistan earlier this week.

Sergeant Fuga was with the National Guard's 35th Special Troops Battalion from Kansas City.

The 47 year old is the ninth soldier of Samoan ancestry to died in the Middle East war, though he is the first killed in Afghanistan.