Spc. Deyson Cariaga, 20, of Kamehameha Heights, was assigned to the 29th Brigade Combat Team, 229th Military Intelligence Company. The 29th BCT began a 12-month deployment to Iraq in January.

Cariaga was killed — and three other soldiers injured — when a bomb detonated near their vehicle about 1 p.m. yesterday, the Army said. The soldiers were on patrol near Balad.

None of the wounded soldiers is from Hawai'i. They were taken to a medical facility.

Cariaga was identified by a military source and a family friend, both of whom did not want to be named because they had not been authorized to release information.

A neighbor said Cariaga is a recent graduate of Farrington High School.

His family was notified yesterday morning and declined comment. His mother is a civilian employee with the Honolulu Police Department.

A spokesman for the Hawai'i National Guard said no official statement would be made until 24 hours after the family was notified.

Gov. Linda Lingle, speaking to military officials at a change of command ceremony yesterday, said she was told of the casualty by Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, head of the Hawai'i National Guard.

"I stood in Aloha Stadium in October of last year when all the members of our guard gathered, their families gathered in the stands, and I dreaded the thought that I knew this day would come, that it was unlikely that the 29th would be able to make it through more than a year of deployment and not have anybody lose their lives," Lingle said. "It's a very sad day for the family, it's a very sad day for Hawai'i."

Cariaga was interviewed at that October send-off by the Associated Press.

"We're going to get a lot of training in Texas that's going to prepare us more, but I feel that, overall, we are prepared as a brigade," he said before leaving for Fort Bliss, Texas.

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said he was deeply saddened.

"In Hawai'i, we are 'ohana, and the death of this 20-year-old local soldier is like a death in each of our own families," Inouye said. "While Americans may have different opinions regarding our presence in Iraq, I believe we are all united in support of our troops, who, without hesitation or fear, willingly serve in harm's way.

Roadside bombs are the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq, and the devices have been getting more sophisticated.

Two soldiers killed in Iraq were with the 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry out of California, a unit attached to the Brigade.

About 3,700 soldiers are part of the brigade, and more than 2,200 are from the Hawai'i Army National Guard and Army Reserve's 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry. Its units are in Kuwait, Baghdad and LSA Anaconda, an air base about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

The Iraq duty represents the first time the 29th Brigade has been sent to war since the Vietnam War.

About 4,000 soldiers were mobilized at Schofield Barracks in 1968-69. Of those, about 1,100 were sent to Vietnam to be inserted into active-duty units.

Twenty soldiers with the Hawai'i Army National Guard and nine reservists with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, were killed in Vietnam, Hawai'i Guard officials said.