A Riverside County community gathered on Monday to hold a candlelight vigil for the 13 American troops that were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2021 .
The ceremony, held at the Norco Country Center’s Fallen 13 Memorial Flower Garden , honored the lives lost in the tragic incident that left nearly 185 people dead while they were in the midst of an evacuation effort at Hamid Karzai International Airport, near the airport’s entrance called Abbey Gate. Of the people killed, 170 were Afghan citizens and 13 were United States service members.
Among those killed was U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, whose family was in attendance. He was one of 11 Marines killed, along with 22-year-old Marine Corporal Hunter Lopez of Indio and 20-year-old Marine Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola from Rancho Cucamonga…