Three South Carolina Army National Guard soldiers are dead following an attack by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. Robert Livingstone identified the three Thursday as 1st Lt. Ryan Rawl of Lexington, Sgt. First Class Matthew Thomas of Easley and Spc. John Meador of Columbia. Five Guardsmen were wounded in the attack.
All eight were serving with the 133rd Military Police Co., based in Timmonsville.
Livingstone says the three were killed in a suicide bomber attack Wednesday in the city of Khost. The attack claimed 21 lives in all.
Livingstone says their deaths are the first connected to a South Carolina Guard unit in Afghanistan since October 2010, when two were killed. Their unit was activated last year and due to return home in August.
