Another sailor from Whidbey Island has died in the Iraq war, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Kevin R. Bewley, 27, of Hector, Ark., died Nov. 5 of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated while he was conducting operations in Salah ad Din province, Iraq.

Bewley was assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 11 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

Bewley is the sixth sailor from the Oak Harbor to die in Iraq.

NAS Whidbey Island lost its first sailors to the five-year-old war on April 6, when three members of EOD-MU11 were killed when their Humvee was hit by a rocket while on patrol in Hawijah, Iraq.

Chief Petty Officer Gregory J. Billiter, 36, of Villa Hills, Ky., Petty Officer 2nd Class Curtis R. Hall, 24, of Burley, Idaho, and Petty Officer 1st Class Joseph Adam McSween were killed in the attack.

Chief Petty Officer Patrick Wade and 1st Class Petty Officer Jeffrey Chaney, 35, of Omaha, Neb. were killed by a roadside bomb in Salah Ad Din, Iraq on July 17.