A 28-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier is the 13th member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team to be killed in combat in Afghanistan since the Hawaii unit deployed in March.

The Pentagon said today that Sgt. William B. GrossPaniagua, of Daly City, Calif., died Sunday in eastern Kunar province from injuries suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

He was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.

Mountainous and violent Kunar province is the site of some of the greatest U.S. losses in the 10-year war.

The 3rd Brigade, which has about 3,500 soldiers, operates in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces from fewer than 10 forward operating bases and multiple combat outposts. Kunar province is a transit route for militants entering from Pakistan.

The death of another Schofield soldier on the deployment was being investigated as a possible suicide, officials said.