Defense Department identifies 3 Army Reserve soldiers recently killed in drone attack

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Defense on Monday released the names of three Army Reserve soldiers killed in Jordan in a drone attack on Sunday.

The three soldiers from Georgia -- who ranged in age from 23 to 46 -- were killed in the northeast part of Jordan near Syria when a one-way unmanned aerial system hit their container housing units, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. defense officials said the soldiers were Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah.

The trio was stationed in Jordan in support of the anti-ISIS efforts of the ongoing "Operation Inherent Resolve" military mission.

The Defense Department said the incident remains under investigation.

Rivers, Sanders and Moffett originally were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion and the 926th Engineer Brigade in Fort Moore, Ga., the department said.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden said in a statement that the White House still was gathering all the pertinent information surrounding the attack, but added that "we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.

"We shall respond," Biden said Sunday in response to the attack on the soldiers during an event in South Carolina, calling the three Georgia soldiers "brave souls."

During Monday's press briefing at the White House, U.S. national security spokesman John Kirby said the mission in Jordan will continue.

Saying that the soldiers stationed there "were conducting a vital mission in the region, aimed at helping us work with partners to counter ISIS," Kirby said, "That mission must and will continue."

Kirby, the Pentagon's National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication, said that mission has no direct connection to hostilities between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.

Kirby said the United States doesn't "seek another war" -- though he warned: "But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves, to continue that mission, and to respond appropriately to these attacks."