Stephen P. Saxton

FORT CARSON, Colo. — A soldier with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment died when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.

Sgt. Stephen P. Saxton, 24, of Temecula, Calif., died in Baghdad on Tuesday, the Defense Department said Thursday. He was on a route security mission.

Saxton, a father of three young children, was serving his second yearlong tour in Iraq. He is the fourth soldier to die since units from Fort Carson were redeployed in March.

“Anything he decided to do, he always gave it his best,” Saxton’s mother, Deborah Saxton, told the Gazette of Colorado Springs by telephone from her home in California.

She said Saxton was looking forward to taking a leave later this month to visit his newest child, Sierra Rose, who was born three weeks ago at the military post outside Colorado Springs.

Saxton’s wife, Maegen, and other...