A New York City firefighter, serving in Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine, has been identified as one of the three Americans killed in Monday’s suicide bombing near Bagram Air Base.
Christopher Slutman, a 15-year veteran of the FDNY and a U.S. Marine Corps reservist, was a member of Ladder 27 in the Claremont section of the Bronx. Slutman was a married father of three and was awarded the Fire Chiefs Association Memorial Medal in 2014 for rescuing an unconscious woman from a burning apartment in the South Bronx, according to FDNY records.
U.S. defense officials announced on Monday that three American troops were killed by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in Afghanistan. The identities of the two other Americans killed have not yet been released.
The suicide car bombing reportedly happened near Bagram Air Base, an airfield located in northern Parwan province and one of the largest U.S. bases in Afghanistan. Three Americans were also wounded in the attack. The injured troops were medically evacuated from the battlefield.
The Taliban has reportedly claimed responsibility for the suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack.
Slutman is the fourth FDNY firefighter to be killed while serving on military duty in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, FDNY Lt. Christopher Raguso and FDNY Fire Marshal Christopher (Tripp) Zanetis died when their Pave Hawk helicopter hit a power line and crashed near the Syrian border. In 2004, Firefighter Christian Engeldrum was killed by a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq with the Army National Guard.
