Pentagon raises total of US soldiers injured from Iran attack to 64

The Pentagon has yet again raised the figure of soldiers wounded in Iran’s retaliatory missile attack in Iraq earlier this month to 64, saying they have suffered “traumatic brain injuries”.

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Pentagon chief Mark Esper and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said Thursday the military took these types of injuries “very seriously” after criticism that the authorities sought to whitewash them.

“The number is growing,” Milley added, explaining that it takes time to diagnose and screen soldiers present in the area at the time of the attack.

The New York Times cited a Pentagon statement, which put the total number of injured troops at 68.

The report said eight troops were currently being treated in the United States, 21 in Landstuhl, Germany and that another 39 injured troops have returned to military operations in Iraq.

The new tally marks at least the fourth instance where US officials have raised the number of US troops injured following Iran’s January 8 missile attack in response to Washington’s assassination of top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani on January 3.

Source: Press TV