The Pentagon has allegedly withheld information about dozens of American service members injured in Iranian strikes on US bases in Jordan, The New York Times reported.
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In the week before Friday's attack that killed two US soldiers and left another missing, Iran carried out three other strikes against US forces in Jordan, according to several US officials. Those strikes wounded dozens of troops and damaged several helicopters, the officials said.
These injuries were never disclosed by the Pentagon.
A US military official told the NYT that Central Command is not obligated to release information about injured service members, particularly when they return to duty quickly. Another official said the Pentagon would not share information that could help Iran fine-tune its attacks on bases housing thousands of American troops.
More than 400 US troops injured since war began
More than 400 US service members have been wounded in the Iran conflict, according to Central Command. The Pentagon had previously reported the total number of troops injured and returned to duty, but has stopped updating that figure in recent weeks.
In a Saturday statement, Central Command said four American troops wounded in Friday's attack were taken to Jordanian hospitals and had been discharged. It said more troops received minor injuries and returned to duty, but did not specify how many. The statement did not mention troops injured in the three earlier strikes in Jordan last week.
Pentagon denies withholding information
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell rejected the NYT report, calling it "baseless and malicious accusations" and "outright lies from partisan hacks at the New York Times."
"The Department of War rejects these baseless and malicious accusations of hiding injury numbers as outright lies from partisan hacks at the New York Times who are desperate to smear America's military and its leadership," Parnell said.
