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Sacramento Marine identified as one of the fallen in Kabul Airport attack

Sgt. Nicole Gee and 12 other service members were killed Thursday by a suicide bomber.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento area Marine is among the 13 service members killed in Thursday's attack at the Kabul Airport, the Department of Defense announced Saturday.

Sgt. Nicole L. Gee was assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. She was 23 years old when she was killed.  

Gee graduated in 2016 from Roseville's Oakmont High School, a year later she enlisted in the Marines, according to a city of Roseville Facebook post. She leaves behind her husband, Jarrod Gee, who is also an Oakmont graduate and Marine.   

Gee and the others were supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel when an ISIS bomber attacked the airport where people were trying to leave the country.

An Instagram post from an account for Nicole Gee, posted a week ago shows a baby being held with "I love my job" in the caption.

Credit: 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit/SSgt Morrow
Nicole Gee, with 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit during an exercise April 5, 2021.(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sergeant Mark E Morrow Jr)
Credit: AP/Sgt. Isaiah Campbell/USMC
In this Aug. 20, 2021, image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, Marines assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), including Sgt. Nicole Gee calms an infant during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Officials said Aug. 28, that Gee of Sacramento, Calif., was one of the Marines killed in Thursday's bombing at the airport. (Sgt. Isaiah Campbell/U.S. Marine Corps via AP)

Based on a preliminary assessment, U.S. officials believe the suicide vest used in the attack, which killed at least 169 Afghans in addition to the 13 Americans, carried about 25 pounds of explosives and was loaded with shrapnel, a U.S. official said Friday.

The Pentagon says two Islamic State group members were killed in a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan, not one as initially reported. The update comes from Defense Department spokesman John Kirby at a briefing.

The attack Saturday local time in Afghanistan came amid what the White House called indications that IS planned to strike again as the U.S.-led evacuation from Kabul airport moved into its final days.

(Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect her ties to Roseville after more information was made available.)

WATCH MORE: Afghanistan War: What Is Winning |  From 2018, ABC10 Originals presents a 30-minute in-depth documentary featuring America’s longest conflict. Almost 17 years and thousands of lives later, are we any closer to pulling our troops out of the region?  

 

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