HAWIJAH, Iraq — The senior enlisted soldier for the U.S. Army’s 42nd Infantry Division narrowly escaped injury Thursday when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in north-central Iraq.

Two Iraqi men detained near the scene were believed to be the assailants, though there is no evidence they were specifically targeting Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Fearnside, said Maj. T.J. Hull, the operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 163rd Infantry Regiment.

“We captured two guys that we think were the trigger men,” Hull said. “There is sufficient evidence to probably put them in prison.”

A preliminary investigation after the pair was arrested found explosive residue on one of the man’s hands, said 1st Lt. Doug Williams, the battalion’s assistant intelligence officer.

The two men also gave three conflicting statements about the reason for their presence in the area.

The attack occurred at about 10 a.m. Thursday on a road in the vicinity of battalion headquarters at Forward Operating Base McHenry.

The IED was placed on the roadside and exploded about 20 feet behind Fearnside’s vehicle, Hull said.

At the time of the attack, Fearnside, assigned to division headquarters in Tikrit, was on a tour of the battalion’s area of responsibility. Neither he nor anyone else in the convoy was injured, Hull said.