Utahn is killed in Baghdad bombing

Sgt. Brandon Thomas didn't have to go to Iraq.

His Utah National Guard unit had not been deployed, but the Cottonwood High School grad couldn't stay away. He wanted to help, his mother, Carol Young, said Saturday.

So the Green Beret took a job as a civilian security contractor in Baghdad — a move that ended up costing him his life.

Two suicide car bombers plowed into a foreign security convoy Saturday, killing Thomas and at least 21 other people, including one other American contractor.

"He wasn't afraid to go over there and make a difference," Young said.

"He wanted to go over there and serve in Iraq and help the people over there," his uncle, Randy Thomas, added.

Thomas was working on a security team for a three-vehicle convoy in Tahrir Square when the suicide bombers attacked. The U.S. Embassy would not identify the company that employed Thomas but said three other American civilians were injured in the attack. Hospital officials said at least 36 Iraqis were injured.

It was the latest in a surge of militant attacks that have killed nearly 300 people since Iraq's first democratically elected government was sworn in 10 days ago.

Although not serving with the military in Iraq, Thomas becomes the 12th Utahn to die there during the current conflict.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. expressed his condolences to Thomas' family Saturday.

"We are deeply saddened by the death of Sgt. Thomas," Huntsman said in a statement. "It makes no difference whether he was deployed to Iraq as a soldier or as a civilian. We have lost a soldier who was there is support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and he will be offered buried with full military honors."

Thomas was scheduled to return home later this week for regular drills with his 19th Special Forces Group of the Utah National Guard. The 27-year-old had only been in Iraq for about three months before the attack.

In December, Thomas completed the rigorous Green Beret training in Fort Bragg, N.C. "The training is very, very intense. I wouldn't want to go through it," his stepfather, Brian Young, said.

But Thomas relished the challenge, he added.

"Special Forces was just suited for the kind of guy he was," Brian Young said. "He was just a high-energy, high-intelligence, high-adrenaline junkie."