The Jackson Sun --A Marine from Hardeman County has died in Iraq, the Department of Defense said Friday.

The military said Gunnery Sgt. Terry J. Elliott, 34, of Middleton, died Thursday during combat operations in Anbar, a western Iraqi province where Sunni insurgents are reported to remain well-entrenched and where some of the bloodiest street battles of the war have occurred.

The details of Elliott's death were not disclosed by the military. Terry Elliott's uncle James Elliott told The Jackson Sun on Friday night that the family is waiting to comment until they get more information about what happened. The family is trying to make funeral arrangements, he said.

Terry Elliott, the son of Lee and Jo Ruth Elliott, was assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

He is the first serviceman from West Tennessee reported killed in Iraq or Afghanistan this year. Eight other servicemen from the region have died while serving in the war on terrorism since April 2003.