11 US troops injured by Iranian strikes in Iraq: Report

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Almost a dozen of U.S. soldiers were injured in the Iranian missile strikes on Jan. 8 -- launched in retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian general -- on Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops, according to a report.

A total of 11 soldiers were airlifted to Kuwait and Germany to receive treatment for traumatic brain injuries, Defense One, a U.S. news outlet, reported Thursday.

"Out of an abundance of caution, some service members were transported from Al Asad Air Base, Iraq to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, others were sent to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, for follow-on screening," Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for U.S. military command in Baghdad, was quoted by the news outlet as saying.

"The health and welfare of our personnel is a top priority and we will not discuss any individual’s medical status," Caggins added.

According to another official, who spoke anonymously, some U.S. service members were still experiencing symptoms of concussion after the attack.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that no U.S. or Iraqi casualties were reported after Iran's strikes.

Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, was killed by a U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3 near Baghdad International Airport.

The operation capped a series of tit-for-tat recriminations between the U.S. and Iran-backed forces that began with the killing of an American contractor at a U.S. base in Iraq late last month.

The U.S. retaliated with airstrikes on the Iran-backed militia it says is responsible for conducting the attack, killing dozens. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad was then attacked by a group of enraged militiamen and demonstrators.