Over 100 US troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after Iran’s attack at al-Asad

Although US President Donald Trump had said that the US “suffered no casualties” from the January 8 Iranian missile attack on the al Asad military base in Iraq that housed American troops, reports of brain traumatic injury stemming from the strike had surfaced. According to reports, over 100 US service members have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the wake of the attack. Reportedly, the number reflects more than 50 per cent jump in TBI cases from Pentagon’s previous injury assessment. Previously, Trump downplayed reports of brain injury.

US personnel injured

After the missile attack by Iran on Iraqi bases hosting US troops in retaliation for the US drone strike that killed Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani, Trump had claimed in a tweet that the US 'suffered no casualties'. When asked about the injuries from the missile attack in an interview, Trump had replied that the soldiers had "headaches, and a couple of other things", but it was "not very serious".

Later Pentagon started backtracking on its "no casualties” statement and on January 17 it said 11 service members were injured following the strike. According to reports, the number continued to increase in a series of updates. On January 28, the figure of injured soldiers was raised to 50 service personnel. In a statement by a Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell, the number of U.S. service members that were diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) was 50.
The statement added that out of the 50, 31 were treated in Iraq and were cleared for duty. 

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On January 3, American troops killed Iran's top commander Qassem Soleimani. The news was confirmed by the White House and the Pentagon, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed by US air raid at Baghdad's international airport on Friday, along with six others.

This caused Iran to retaliate with missile attacks on Iraqi bases that housed US troops.

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(Image Credit: AP)