CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) — The remains of the second U.S. Army soldier who went missing during military exercises in Morocco have been recovered, the Army said Wednesday, ending a multinational search operation that deployed air, naval and artificial intelligence assets.
The soldier was identified as Spc. Mariyah Symone Collington of Taveres, Fla., the U.S. military Europe and Africa said in a statement. She was 19 years old.
“Royal Moroccan Armed Forces transported the Soldier’s remains by a Moroccan helicopter to the morgue of Moulay El Hassan Military Hospital in Guelmim, Morocco,” the statement said.
Collington served as an air and missile defense crewmember and was assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa said.
Collington entered the Regular Army’s Delayed Entry Program in 2023 before beginning active-duty service in 2024. She completed Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, as a 14P air and missile defense crewmember. She reported to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, in Ansbach, Germany, in February 2025 and was promoted to specialist on May 1, 2026.
Her awards and decorations include the Army Service Ribbon.
The announcement came days after the military said the remains of another soldier, 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., a 14A Air Defense Artillery officer, had been recovered. The two soldiers fell off a cliff during an off-duty recreational hike in Morocco. Their remains are en route to the United States.
A spokesperson for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa told The Associated Press that the circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.
The two soldiers were reported missing May 2 after participating in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise held in Morocco. Their disappearance triggered a search operation involving more than 1,000 U.S. and Moroccan military and civilian personnel, the SETAF-AF spokesperson added.
Assets deployed during the operation included a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, thermal and ISR sensors, an unmanned underwater vehicle, side-scan sonar, a Moroccan multibeam echosounder and U.S. Coast Guard drift modeling capabilities, according to the spokesperson.
African Lion 26, is a U.S.-led exercise launched in April across four countries – Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal – with more than 7,000 personnel from over 30 nations.
In 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others injured during a helicopter crash in Morocco’s southern city of Agadir while taking part in the exercises
FILE - U.S and Moroccan military forces take part in the 20th edition of the African Lion military exercise, in Tantan, south of Agadir, Morocco, Friday, May 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A performer at the funeral for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the death of U.S. President Donald Trump before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people Sunday in the capital, Tehran.
The comment represents the first, direct call for Trump's death by an emcee at the funeral, which has seen posters and graffiti calling for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That's been a hard-line demand even as Tehran negotiates with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war that's disrupted global energy supplies.
Mohammad Rasouli, a poet, drew calls of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Speaking to the crowd over loudspeakers at the funeral, Rasouli asked, referring to Trump: “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?”
The question drew cheers from the crowd, and again when Rasouli said that “the world is no longer a good place for” Trump.
Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, later led a prayer Sunday at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla for Khamenei and his late family members.
A far-larger crowd for the funeral than the day before attended the ceremony Sunday. Mourners dressed in black walked to the site, carrying banners and flags honoring Khamenei and also calling for Trump's killing as the American president gave a speech in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
“We’ve had tremendous success,” Trump said, speaking of the American military. “You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out their military.”
U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years. That stems from Trump ordering the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Iran repeatedly has denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran's crosshairs.
Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran's very civilization during the war among a variety of other threats.
The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before he was killed at age 86 in a Feb. 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country’s theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
That is important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war and as concern lingers that Israel could attack again.
The funeral was delayed as the war raged, and talks are on hold until it is over.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A man carries a child holding a red Shiite religious flag outside the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners write messages on a wall, including one in English that reads "We will kill Trump," during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners walk through the grounds of the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A mourner holds a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as he walks past a wall bearing messages, including one in English that reads "We will kill Trump," during the funeral ceremonies for Khamenei and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Mourners gather beneath a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the funeral ceremonies for Khamenei and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
