Illinois Marine counted among combat deaths

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The military says a North Carolina-based Marine who died last year from injuries he suffered in 2005 has officially been counted as a combat death in Iraq.

The Department of Defense said Friday that 27-year-old Sergeant Nickolas Lee Hopper of Montrose, Illinois, died in September 2007. The married father was wounded more than two years earlier while fighting in Anbar province.

Hopper wasn't officially included in the list of Iraq casualties at the time. The military says Hopper was added to the list based on his final autopsy report.

Further details haven't been released.

Montrose is about 80 miles southeast of Springfield, Illinois.