Officials: NC paratrooper among 2 killed in Afghanistan

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Army officials say a North Carolina man was one of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan when a car bomb hit their convoy.

Public affairs officer Lt. Col. Joe Buccino says two paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division were killed Wednesday near Kandahar. Buccino’s news release identifies them as 25-year-old Spec. Christopher M. Harris, of Jackson Springs, North Carolina; and 23-year-old Sgt. Jonathon M. Hunter, of Columbus, Indiana. The 82nd Airborne is stationed at Fort Bragg.

Brigade commander Col. Toby Magsig says in the release that Harris was an extraordinary young man with “the type of courage, discipline, and empathy that the Nation expects from its warriors.”

Magsig says the brigade’s thoughts and prayers are with the men’s families.

Harris joined the Army in October 2013 and was on his first deployment.