New Castle, Pa., and NE Ohio soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan

Staff and wire report

WASHINGTON

A New Castle, Pa., Army staff sergeant and a northeastern Ohio lieutenant were among six soldiers killed in Afghanistan when their unit was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, the U.S. military reported today.

The military says they were two of six soldiers assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky., who were killed in the attack.

The Department of Defense says the six died Thursday of wounds from the attack in Kandahar province.

They were:

29-year-old Staff Sgt. Edward D. Mills Jr. of New Castle, Pa.

27-year-old 1st Lt. John M. Runkle of West Salem, in Wayne County in Northeast Ohio

35-year-old Staff Sgt. Ergin V. Osman of Jacksonville, N.C.

25-year-old Sgt. Thomas A. Bohall of Bel Aire, Kan.

21-year-old Spc. Adam J. Patton of Port Orchard, Wash

39-year-old Sgt. Louie A. Ramos Velazquez of Camuy, Puerto Rico.

The Army did not release further details about them.

The bodies of the men were returned to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on Saturday night.

Details on local memorial services for Sgt. Mills have not been announced.

He was a graduate of Union High School in Union Township in Lawrence County.

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