Spc. Kyle Ka Eo Fernandez, 26, of Waipahu, and Staff Sgt. Brian S. Hobbs, 31, of Mesa, Ariz., were killed Thursday in Miam Do when an improvised explosive devise exploded near their patrol, the Pentagon said in a news release.

Both men were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division.

Fernandez entered the Army in March 2001 and was assigned to Schofield in August of that same year, the 25th Infantry Division said in a news release. Hobbs entered the Army in 1994 and was assigned to Schofield in October 2001.

Their deaths in Afghanistan come after two soldiers from Hawaii were killed in recent weeks in Iraq.

Fernandez and Hobbs are the fifth and sixth Schofield-based soldiers killed in Afghanistan since January 2003. Seven members of the 25th Infantry Division have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war there in March 2003.