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Two soldiers killed in training accident
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two soldiers were killed when they were run over by a tank in an early morning training accident Thursday at Fort Polk, Louisiana, military officials told CNN. The soldiers, from the Army's 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, had been conducting urban combat training for about a week. Army officials said the accident occurred while the troops were in the process of attacking a mock village. The tank was identified as an M1. Officials at Fort Polk said the exact circumstances of the accident are not yet known, except that it occurred in the dark while the troops were wearing night vision goggles. A military official said that the exercise did not involve a chemical or biological warfare element and the troops were not believed to be wearing the bulky chemical and biological weapon protective suits. The accident did not involve live gunfire, officials said. The two soldiers were airlifted to a hospital on base where they were pronounced dead. Their identities have not been released. They were from the Army's 3rd Bridage 187th Regiment, which recently returned from duty in Afghanistan. It's not known if the dead soldiers had served in Afghanistan. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the 101st Airborne Division completed the deepest military strike into Iraq without losing a single solider and capturing thousands of prisoners, according to the division's Web site. The 101st also played an important role in the Vietnam War from the mid-1960s until the U.S. bowed out of the conflict in the 1970s, the site said. The division has participated in recent U.S. military humanitarian efforts in Bosnia and Rwanda and in peacekeeping missions in Haiti and Somalia, according to the Web site. CNN Pentagon producer Mike Mount contributed to this report.
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