Miami Herald.com - A 22-year-old U.S. Army soldier from Miami was killed in Iraq by mortar fire on March 3, according to the Department of Defense.

Pfc. Jessica Y. Sarandrea was mortally wounded when insurgent forces attacked her forward operating base with mortar fire in Mosul.

An official statement from the U.S. government stated that Sarandrea was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Sarandrea, who graduated from Coral Gables High School, was stationed in Mosul, where she worked as a supply specialist performing logistical support for her battalion, said Alejandro ''Alex'' Sarandrea, her husband. She was walking from her office, perhaps to get her gear, when she was hit by shrapnel from incoming mortar, her husband said.

The shrapnel pierced her liver and severed one of her main arteries, said Sarandrea, of West Miami, who is also 22.

''I know what a wonderful person she was,'' Sarandrea said. ``I will always carry her memory in my heart.''

Jessica Sarandrea enlisted in the Army about four years ago, and reenlisted to be with her husband, he said.

The two met in Kuwait during a prior deployment. Sarandrea told the young woman she looked familiar. She said she did not recognize him. But when the two met again, ''we started talking. It turned out we were both from Miami, from almost the same region,'' Sarandrea said.

''We ended up getting married out there,'' said Sarandrea, who trains soldiers how to defend themselves against biological and chemical attacks.

Photo: Jessica and her father Carlos