Army Sgt. Myla L. Maravillosa suffered fatal injuries when her Humvee was attacked by enemy forces using rocket-propelled grenades in Al Hawijah, the Defense Department announced today.

Maravillosa, a 1999 graduate of Leilehua High School, was assigned to the Army Reserve's 203rd Military Intelligence Battalion out of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Maravillosa joined the U.S. Army Reserve after graduating from high school, said her mother, Estelita Maravillosa. Having moved to Hawai'i in 1997 from the Philippines, Myla Maravillosa wanted to serve her adopted country, her mother said.

"She was doing a heroic job," her mother said.

Estelita Maravillosa, 62, said she was notified Saturday of her daughter's death. She said when military personnel approached her Wahiawa apartment, she began to panic.

"She is my only child; she is my only daughter," she said in an interview today.

Maravillosa said her daughter had dreams of working for a United States embassy in foreign relations. She said Myla Maravillosa had planned to attend Hawai'i Pacific University this year but was sent to Iraq on Nov. 20. She previously attended Leeward Community College, her mother said.

Maravillosa was a devout Catholic who attended church at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu.

"She was friends with all the nuns and sisters," said her mother, noting that St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston held a Mass today in her daughter's honor.

"That is where she went for her holy retreat after her military training," the elder Maravillosa said.

Maravillosa said her daughter's death comes as a shock because she was only in Iraq for a little more than a month.

Estelita Maravillosa spent Christmas Day with family in Mililani. She said Myla Maravillosa's extended family is devastated by the news.

"This is a very bad Christmas," she said.

On Nov. 7, 2003, Army Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth, who had moved to Mililani with her family earlier that year, was killed when the Black Hawk helicopter in which she was a passenger was shot down in Tikrit, Iraq. Swartworth, 43, was regimental warrant officer for the Judge Advocate General Office at the Pentagon.

At least nine other people from Hawai'i have been killed in Iraq since U.S. military operations began there in March 2003. They are Army Sgt. 1st Class Kelly Bolor, 37, of Lahaina, Maui; Army Sgt. Deyson K. Cariaga, 20, of Honolulu; Army Spc. Ray Fuhrmann II, 28, who grew up on the Big Island; Army 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, 27, of Kailua; Army Pfc. Jeungjin Kim, 23, of Honolulu; Marine Lance Cpl. Blake A. Magaoay, 20, of Pearl City; Army Pfc. Joshua Kuile Paul Titcomb, 20, of Wai'anae; Marine Sgt. Daniel A. Tsue, 27, of Moanalua; and Army Spc. Kevin S.K. Wessel, 20, of Honolulu.