Twelfth casualty marks deadliest year for Kansans in Iraq

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A Web site that tracks U.S. war casualties says this week’s death of an Emporia soldier marks the deadliest year on record for Kansans serving in Iraq.

Sgt. Christopher Kruse on Tuesday became the 12th Kansan to die in Iraq in 2007, according to records posted at www.icasualties.org. Eleven Kansans died in Iraq last year, compared with six in 2005, 10 in 2004 and five in 2003. Nine members of the Kansas National Guard also have died in combat since April 2003.

The Pentagon said that Kruse and Cpl. Peter William Schmidt, of Eureka, Calif., died Tuesday in Mukhisa, Iraq, when a roadside bomb went off during combat operations.

Last Saturday, Sgt. Jeffery S. Mersman, 23, of Parker, was among five soldiers killed in Aranus, Afghanistan, when his patrol was attacked.

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/364652.html