COLCHESTER, Vt. (AP) – Vermont National Guard Lt. Mark H. Dooley, a police officer in private life, was killed in Iraq, the Guard announced Tuesday.

Dooley, 27, whom the military said was from Wallkill, N.Y., but was living in Wilmington, Vt., at the time of his deployment, was on a routine mission near the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi when he was killed Monday by a bomb.

The guard said two others – neither from the Vermont Guard – were killed in the same explosion.

The U.S. military said Tuesday that four U.S. soldiers died Monday in two roadside bombings near Ramadi and a fifth died in a blast north of Baghdad, pushing the toll of American forces killed in Iraq past 1,900. The military did not identify the four.

Ramadi is a volatile city 70 miles west of Baghdad. It has been the scene of intense but sporadic fighting since the insurgency gained strength and began its offensive against U.S. forces in the summer of 2003.

Dooley, a 2002 graduate of Norwich University, was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Mountain Infantry.

He had been a member of the Vermont Guard since 2000 and was deployed in January for training. He arrived in Iraq in July.

“He was very well respected by his peers and his commanders,” said Adjutant General Martha Rainville. “He will be deeply missed.”

Dooley joined the Wilmington Police Department last November and worked there until his deployment. In 2002 and 2003 he worked for the Windham County sheriff’s office.

Wilmington, a ski town, is located in southern Vermont west of Brattleboro.

Dooley is survived by his parents and a brother.

As of Tuesday, 1,904 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

At least 1,483 died from hostile action, according to the military. The figures include five military civilians.

Dooley’s death brings to 17 the number of American military service members with ties to Vermont who have died in Iraq since the war began. An 18th Vermonter died of natural causes in Kuwait while training to go to Iraq.