A memorial service was held Saturday for an American soldier killed by a land mine Wednesday in western Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Shane Koele of Hartley, Iowa, was assigned to the 212th Military Police Company out of Kitzingen, Germany.

Four other soldiers were injured when the armored Humvee they were riding in struck an anti-tank mine.

Two were treated and returned to duty and two others were taken to the military hospital at Bagram Air Base, treated and released.

According to a news release issued by the Coalition Press Information Center in Kabul, the military police unit had only recently arrived in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday night, two vehicles were out conducting a patrol about 12 miles south of the town of Shindand when one of military police vehicles became stuck in the mud.

During recovery attempts Wednesday, the Humvee that Koele was riding in struck a mine.

Koele, 25, is survived by a wife and infant daughter.

Migrated