CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — A 2nd Infantry Division soldier was killed in Iraq last week, the Defense Department reports.

The soldier was identified as Staff Sgt. Juan De Dios Garcia-Arana, 27, of Los Angeles. He was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 2nd ID, Camp Hovey, South Korea.

“Garcia-Arana … died April 30 in Khaladiyah, Iraq, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire,” the news release stated.

Khaladiyah is one of several volatile Iraqi towns patrolled by 2nd ID units near the larger city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

Garcia-Arana’s unit, 5-5, is part of 2nd ID’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Strike Force), which deployed to the Middle East from South Korea in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in August.

The Strike Force’s 3,500 soldiers are expected to move to Fort Carson, Colo., when their Iraq tour ends.

Garcia-Arana’s death brings the total number of Strike Force soldiers killed in Iraq to 57, according to a Stars and Stripes tally.

As of Tuesday, at least 1,586 U.S. troops have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

At least 1,211 died as a result of hostile action, according to the Defense Department.