Army captain from Rolesville killed in Afghanistan

One of two U.S. soldiers killed in a battle in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on Thursday was an Army captain from Rolesville.

Capt. Andrew D. Byers was 30 years old and based at Fort Carson in Colorado, according to the Department of Defense. Byers and the other soldier who was killed, Sgt. 1st Class Ryan A. Gloyer, 34, of Greenville, Pa., were assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

Byers and Gloyer and more than 30 Afghans were killed in heavy fighting around the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, according to The New York Times. That brings the number of Americans killed in combat in Afghanistan in the last month to five, compared with only four known combat deaths in the previous nine months, the Times reported. Two American soldiers were also wounded in Thursday’s fighting, the military said.

Byers began his military service 8 1/2 years ago and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. He had been in Afghanistan since June and had previously deployed to the Republic of Congo last year.

American soldiers are in the Kunduz district as advisers to an Afghan military operation, Brig. Gen. Charles H. Cleveland told the Times.

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Army captain from Rolesville killed in Afghanistan."