A married father of three children out of Schofield Barracks was one of two soldiers killed Thursday in Iraq when a suicide bomber detonated a car with explosives near a checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, officials said.

Sgt. Solomon T. Sam, 26, of Majuro, Marshall Islands, was with the 84th Engineer Battalion and had deployed to Iraq last month on his second tour to the country from Hawai'i.

Sam's wife and children live on O'ahu.

"They are part of the Army family, so we'll certainly take care of them," said Sgt. 1st Class David Gillespie, a spokesman for the 8th Theater Sustainment Command at Fort Shafter. "We're working with them now in helping them through this time."

The Web site www.yokwe.net, devoted to the Marshall Islands, said Sam is believed to be the first loss for the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the U.S. war on terrorism.

Staff Sgt. Neamon Neamon said on the Web site that his family and several other Marshallese soldiers had visited Sam's wife and children early this week.

The Web site said Sam's father is the Rev. Harry Sam from Ujae, Ailinglaplap, Kwajelein, and his mother is Teaoi Sam from Kiribati.

Gillespie said Sam, who joined the Army in 1999, returned from Iraq in 2006 from an earlier deployment with the 84th Engineer Battalion.

Sam's death came as about 9,200 Schofield Barracks soldiers are now based in Iraq.

The total includes about 1,000 with the 25th Infantry Division headquarters; 3,500 with the 3rd Brigade; 4,000 with the Stryker Brigade; and 700 with the 84th Engineer Battalion, which arrived in Iraq in November and this month and is predominantly in Mosul.

Also killed in last week's blast was Sgt. John J. Savage, 26, of Texas, who was with the 94th Engineer Company at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Eight or nine civilians also were wounded.

Suicide bombers killed 18 people in three attacks as the Iraqi government approved a "Status of Forces Agreement" that calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from population centers by June 30.

Pfc. Christopher A. McCraw, 23, came under gunfire in Baghdad on Oct. 14 and was the most recent fatality for Schofield Barracks before Sam's death.

According to the Web site www.icasualties.org, there were 17 U.S. deaths in Iraq in November, compared with 37 for the same month in 2007.