DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa Marine was killed by gunfire in the Iraqi city of Najaf, his mother said Sunday night.

Pfc. Nick Skinner, 20, of Davenport, was shot in the neck Thursday and died a short time later on an operating table, his mother, Laura Hamann of Park View, said in a telephone interview.

“He was a very strong young man,” Hamann said. She said that after he was wounded, Skinner crawled back to his camp under his own power but died due to blood loss.

The family was notified by the military Sunday, a few hours after first learning of the death from the father of one of his fellow Marines, Hamann said.

Skinner enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2003 shortly after...