Iranian attacks on an American tactical operations centre in Kuwait have killed and injured troops [Getty]
The injuries caused to US troops in Kuwait from Iranian attacks are far more severe than initially revealed, reports on Thursday said, citing multiple sources.
Some of the injuries sustained include shrapnel wounds and burns, with at least one service member likely to have a limb amputated.
Sources told CBS News that there was great difficulty in rescuing surviving US troops after an Iranian strike targeted an American tactical operations centre at the Shuaiba port south of Kuwait City on 1 March, killing six people.
The sources detailed harrowing scenes and added that over 30 American military personnel were still in hospital following the attack, after arriving in the German town of Landstuhl for treatment.
According to reports, those killed in the attack were part of a logistical support unit and were stationed in a facility that allegedly did not have any hardened protection that could minimise the force of the explosion.
One US soldier arrived in Landstuhl on Tuesday, with the military designating the injuries as “urgent,” and the sources noting they include traumatic brain injuries, memory loss, and concussions.
CBS News reported that over 100 medical staff were sent to the German town to assist the 30 injured military members.
Initial reports on 1 March from the Defence Department said that only five military personnel were seriously wounded and “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions”.
Comments from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon last week seemed to downplay the scale of the attacks and the extent of the injuries caused by them.
“You have air defences, and a lot’s coming in, and you hit most of it. Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately, we call it a squirter, that makes its way through. And in that particular case, it happened to hit a tactical operations centre that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons,” he said.
Hegseth has come under fire amid the US-Israeli war on Iran for his alleged insensitivity, including bragging about the “death and destruction” caused by US bombs in Iran.
Sources said at least two service members went missing following the Shuaiba attack and were found under the rubble later. At least one American was also killed in Saudi Arabia in a separate strike on 1 March, with no figures on how many others may have been injured.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has also said that around 140 American soldiers have so far been wounded since the start of the war, without mentioning where or when they were injured.
He added that 108 of the service members have returned to their duties and that “the vast majority of these injuries have been minor”.
The New Arab reached out to the US Department of Defence but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.
