Number of soldiers injured in Iran strike increase

Iran’s missile strike on an Iraqi air base earlier this month left 50 U.S. soldiers with traumatic brain injuries, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday. That’s the third time the U.S. military has increased the official number of injuries from Iran’s retaliatory attack for the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell said 31 of the injured service members had returned to duty.

Why does the number keep going up? The Pentagon reported on Jan. 17 that the military evacuated 11 service members from Iraq with concussionlike symptoms after the Jan. 9 strike on the Ain al-Asad air base. Soldiers didn’t immediately report symptoms of concussion or traumatic brain injury and some cases weren’t known until days later, the military said. The severity and duration of traumatic brain injuries can vary widely.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report about how increasing tensions after Soleimani’s death have affected Christian communities in Iraq.