U.S. Media Reports Iranian Missile Injured 8 American Soldiers

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 28 - U.S. media reported on the 27th that a U.S. military personnel vessel was attacked by Iranian missiles in the Strait of Hormuz on the 14th of this month, resulting in injuries to 8 Marine Corps personnel.

On the same day, NBC News reported, citing three informed officials, that the 8 Marine Corps personnel included 7 soldiers and one officer, belonging to a "battalion landing team." The vessel they were on was attacked by Iranian cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz, and they were injured due to smoke inhalation, experiencing headaches and other symptoms associated with concussions, which may indicate the possibility of traumatic brain injury. They were "not seriously injured" and returned to duty shortly after the attack.

The aforementioned informed officials stated that the Marines were not aboard a U.S. military vessel at the time, but did not disclose further details.

The U.S. Department of Defense had not previously released any information regarding this attack. In response to this report, the Department of Defense stated that the U.S. Central Command should respond, but the latter declined to comment.

The injury information for these 8 personnel was only recorded in the U.S. Department of Defense's "Defense Casualty Analysis System" on the 23rd. A U.S. source explained that the symptoms of the injured may have appeared with a delay, and this system is not updated in real-time.

Data from the "Defense Casualty Analysis System" shows that since the Iranian conflict began at the end of February, as of the 23rd of this month, the number of U.S. military personnel injured has reached 861. This system added a new "overseas operations" tracking category in July, separately counting U.S. military casualties since July 7, with more than half of the injured personnel from the Iranian conflict categorized in this way. According to a previous report by The Washington Post, the U.S. Department of Defense explained that since the military operation codenamed "Epic Fury" has ended, the U.S. military decided to include the casualties from the new round of Iranian conflict since July into the "overseas operations" category.

The Washington Post also reported on the 25th that the "Defense Casualty Analysis System" added 37 injured U.S. military personnel, consisting of 29 sailors and 8 Marines. The U.S. Department of Defense did not explain the reasons for the injuries of these personnel. (Li Mingrui)