Southtown Star -- An Army soldier from Markham was killed Tuesday in Jolo Island, the Philippines, the Defense Department announced Thursday.


Sgt. 1st Class Christopher D. Shaw, 37, of Markham, and Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III, 26, of Bethany, Okla., were killed by the detonation of an improvised-explosive device, the department said, adding that the incident is under investigation.

The bomb attack was blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants. It was the first deadly attack on U.S. soldiers in the Philippines in seven years.

A Filipino Marine also died in the attack.

U.S. Maj. Bradley Gordon said the soldiers were part of a task force deployed to help quell militants in the southern Philippines. Shaw and Martin were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, in Fort Lewis, Wash.

==Additional news story==

Clarion-Ledger -- A 37-year-old Natchez native is one of two Special Forces soldiers killed this week in the Philippines by a roadside bomb believed to have been planted by al-Qaida-linked militants.

They are the first American troops to die in an attack in the Philippines in seven years.

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher D. Shaw was on his second deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device on Jolo Island.

He also was a veteran of the Iraq War.

Shaw was a cross-country track star at Natchez High School. "I think he held the state record at one time," recalled classmate Kareem West. "He was maybe one of the best track stars ever at the school."

He called the news shocking. "He was really a nice guy," West said. "He was well liked."

Also killed in the Sept. 29 explosion was Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III, 26, a native of Bethany, Okla., on his first deployment in support of the operation, and a Filipino Marine. Two Filipino soldiers were wounded.

The soldiers had been working on a school construction project on Jolo Island, a poor, predominantly Muslim region where Americans have been providing combat training and weapons to Filipino troops battling Abu Sayyaf militants. The Philippine military suspects the group was behind the attack.

The group is believed to have about 400 fighters, to have received funds from al-Qaida and is suspected of sheltering militants from the larger Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

The U.S. embassy said in a statement that the soldiers' vehicle hit an improvised explosive device while they were conducting a resupply mission for the school construction project.

In a statement posted on the U.S. Army Special Forces Command Web site, Shaw's family described him as a "husband, father, son, brother and uncle. ... Chris was a man who deeply loved his family and believed that he was making a difference in the fight against terror."

The family said it would not grant any interviews and asked for privacy.