FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Four soldiers from this Colorado post were killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq this week, raising to 148 the number of Fort Carson personnel killed in the war, the military said.

The soldiers were identified Wednesday as 1st Lt. Justin S. Smith, 28, of Lansing, Mich.; Staff Sgt. Brian L. Freeman, 27, of Lucedale, Miss.; Spc. Robert C. Pope II, 22, of East Islip, N.Y.; and Pfc. Mario A. Reyes, 19, of Las Cruces, N.M.

They were killed near Baghdad Monday when a vehicle-born bomb blew up while they were on a foot patrol, the Pentagon said.

A civilian translator, who has not been identified, also was killed, the military said. The attack occurred about 5 p.m. local time Monday.

The soldiers were assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. In Iraq, they were part of the Army's Task Force Baghdad, the U.S. command said.

Freeman and his wife, Leah, had been living in Colorado, said Jeanette Colson, a longtime family friend. His parents, Pat and Glen Freeman, live in Mississippi.

"His mother was real excited on Sunday because he was coming home in a month and they were going to have an early Christmas," Colson said. "It's a shock to talk to his mother about him coming home and the next day he was dead."

Colson described Freeman as quiet. "Very dedicated to his family and he loved the service," she said

Caledonia (Miss.) High School Principal Michael Putnam said Freeman was a well-liked and conscientious student who joined the Army after he graduated in 1997.

"He was never a person who liked the limelight himself. He just wanted to be part of it and make sure things were done right," Putnam said.

The four were believed to be the first Fort Carson soldiers killed in Iraq since Sept. 7, when one died after a bomb exploded near his combat patrol in Tal Afar. Monday's attack was the worst suffered by soldiers from the post since July 24, when a roadside bomb exploded near a Bradley fighting vehicle, killing four.

Fort Carson spokesman 1st Lt. Justin Journeay said 63 of the Fort Carson soldiers killed in Iraq were from the 3rd Armored Cavalry.

A Marine from Colorado was killed on Monday in Iraq.

As of Tuesday, at least 2,054 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,590 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.