Pentagon releases names of 3 soldiers killed in drone attack in Jordan

In a press release Monday, the Defense Department said Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia, died Jan. 28, 2024, in Jordan. The attack occurred when “a one-way unmanned aerial system (OWUAS) impacted their container housing units,” the Pentagon said.

Pentagon deputy press Secretary Sabrina Singh blamed the drone attack on an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed militia. The U.S. has said the groups operate in Syria and Iraq. She said the attack had the “footprints” of Kataib Hezbollah, but said a final assessment has not yet been made. And she added that U.S. forces would respond “at a time and place of their choosing.”

The department says that the attack is under investigation.

The attack took place at an outpost known as Tower 22, where roughly 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel are deployed, according to the Department of Defense.

U.S. Central Command confirmed Sunday night that at least 34 were injured. Eight of the wounded service members were evacuated — some were in critical condition but all were stable, a defense official told CBS News.

The killed and injured troops were in their sleeping quarters on the base when the drone strike took place in the pre-dawn hours.

The strike was believed to be the deadliest attack on U.S. service members since 13 Americans were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul as the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Kaia Hubbard, Stefan Becket, Margaret Brennan, David Martin, Nancy Cordes and Christina Ruffini contributed reporting.