WASHINGTON — The Army National Guard has opened an investigation into the training and equipment made available to one of its explosive ordnance disposal units before its deployment to Afghanistan earlier this year, officials said.

The action follows a report in The New York Times on the death of a soldier in the unit, Specialist James A. Slape, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand Province on Oct. 4.

Specialist Slape was a bomb disposal technician assigned to the 430th Ordnance Company of the North Carolina National Guard, based in Washington, N.C., which is still deployed to Afghanistan. Soldiers assigned to such units are responsible for defusing improvised bombs and other weapons that the Taliban employ.

Lt. Col. Wesley A. Parmer, a spokesman for the National Guard, said that the service had started an investigation “into the training and equipping of the 430th EOD Company for their mobilization and deployment to Afghanistan.” He provided no further details.