Pentagon: Number of US Troops Wounded in Iran Attack Rises

  • 2/22/2020
  • 00:00
  • 4
  • 0
  • 0
news-picture

The number of US troops who sustained traumatic brain injury when Iran launched missiles at the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq last month has risen to 110, the Pentagon said Friday. The figure is one higher than the last toll, which was announced on February 10.  All of the wounded were diagnosed with mild  traumatic brain injury, the Pentagon said in a statement, adding that 77 had already returned to duty. Meanwhile 35 were transported to Germany for further evaluation, of whom 25 have been sent to the United States, it added. President Donald Trump had initially said that no Americans were hurt in the strike on the base on the night of January 7-8, although authorities later reported that nearly a dozen troops were wounded. Iran fired ballistic missiles at the base to retaliate for the January 3 US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani while he was in Baghdad. The brain injuries sustained in the Iranian missile attack are fundamentally different than those that have typically resulted from past attacks, brain-trauma specialists said. That’s because the al-Asad bombing was more intense than typical quick-hit, single-explosion attacks: The explosions came in waves and lasted more than an hour.

مشاركة :