ELKO -- A 21-year-old Elko Marine has been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, U.S. military officials reported Tuesday.

Lance Cpl. Raul S. Bravo Jr. was killed Saturday during combat operations in Anbar province, the Defense Department said in a statement.

He is the first Nevadan killed this year in the war on terrorism and the 48th U.S. military personnel with ties to Nevada who has died in the nation's wars overseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Bravo, a 2004 graduate of Elko High School, was on his second tour of duty.

Gov. Jim Gibbons said in a statement that he and his wife, Dawn, "are deeply saddened by the loss" of Bravo.

"His service and his sacrifice to this nation should never be forgotten," Gibbons stated.

Bravo is the first from Elko to be killed in the overseas war on terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks.

According to his sister, Rachel, his company was patrolling in the city of Qaim when the military vehicle Bravo was driving was destroyed by a bomb.

Another Marine from Nevada, Cpl. William I. Salazar, of Las Vegas, was killed by a car-bomb attack in Qaim on Oct. 15, 2004. The city then was known for being an insurgent hotbed.

Bravo is survived by his father, Raul Bravo of Elko, and his mother, Joy Marisco, and sisters Shakira, Rachel and Isabelle, all of Henderson.

The family said Bravo will be buried in the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report.