Killed in action

[1] The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA did not need to have fired their weapons, but only to have been killed due to hostile attack.

KIAs include those killed by friendly fire in the midst of combat, but not from incidents such as accidental vehicle crashes, murder or other non-hostile events or terrorism.

[3] The category died of wounds received in action (DWRIA) is also used for combat related casualties which occur after medical evacuation.

This term is used when personnel are lost in battle, initially listed missing in action (MIA), but after not being found, are later presumed to have not survived.

[5] This is typical of naval battles or engagements on other hostile environments where recovering bodies is difficult.