Soldier from Lake in the Hills dies in Afghanistan

A Lake in the Hills soldier serving in the same Woodstock-based Illinois National Guard unit that lost three of its members in a March attack died Sunday in Afghanistan.

Spc. Lukasz Saczek, 23, died as a result of a noncombat-related injury while serving in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan with Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry, an official said.

The death remains under investigation, said Maj. Brad Leighton, public affairs director for the Illinois National Guard.

Saczek enlisted in the National Guard in July 2006 and was on his first tour of duty, providing security to groups helping rebuild the province on the far eastern side of Afghanistan that borders Pakistan.

"He was part of a team protecting the provincial reconstruction team," Leighton said.

A 2005 graduate of Steinmetz Academic Centre in Chicago, Saczek leaves behind a wife and young child, Leighton said. Information regarding funeral arrangements was not immediately available.

Saczek, Leighton said, was part of the same company that saw three of its members killed in March in a roadside bomb attack.