An Iranian drone attack in Kuwait that injured dozens of American troops and killed at least six was reportedly more severe than initially reported, with injuries allegedly including brain trauma and burns, while one service member may need an amputation.
The strike, which targeted a unit on a civilian port in the Persian Gulf, also caused shrapnel wounds, according to CBS News.
At least 140 U.S. service members were injured over the first 10 days of the U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. At least 108 service members have returned to duty, and eight remain listed as “severely injured,” defense officials told The Independent.
More than 30 troops remained hospitalized in medical centers in San Antonio, Washington, D.C., and Germany, according to CBS.
Asked to confirm the extent of the previously unreported injuries and whether any troops remain hospitalized in the wake of the attack, U.S. Central Command referred The Independent to Parnell’s statement.
U.S. troops killed in the attack on March 1 — marking the first American deaths after the Trump-directed assault sparked chaos across the Middle East — reportedly had insufficient overhead cover when the drone smashed into a command center there.
Service members killed in the attack were part of a logistical support unit at the Shuaiba port, where a prefabricated, triple-wide trailer-style structure was protected against ground threats by concrete barriers, according to satellite imagery.
But the facility allegedly did not have any hardened protection to deflect or minimize explosive force.
In a statement on social media, Pentagon spokesperson Parnell refuted reports that the attack struck a “makeshift office space” at the facility and claimed “every possible measure has been taken to safeguard our troops — at every level.”
“You have air defenses, and a lot’s coming in, and you hit most of it,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon last week.
“Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately, we call it a squirter, that makes its way through,” he added. “And in that particular case, it happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.”
Images of the building from 2001 shows what appears to be a thin metal rooftop, though it is unclear whether any additional fortified layers were underneath. It does not appear that the building had any meaningful improvements since 2009, according to reviews of satellite and archival imagery of the facility.
Thick smoke could be seen from a building in the complex the morning of the attack, satellite images show.
Smoke poured into the facility, making it difficult to rescue those who were trapped inside, according to CBS.
Sgt. First Class Cory Hicks, who survived the attack, said “everything was just smoke and fire and crazy and chaos.”
“Seeing the nose of that drone pop through, and as soon as it did, I knew what it was. It was either a missile or a drone, so I turned to my right, and that’s when it blew up and just blew the whole building apart,” he told KTSP in Minnesota.
He was hit in the face and arms with shrapnel, requiring several stitches at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in D.C.
Six troops were killed in the attack. All of whom, including Hicks, are Army Reserve troops assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The casualties include Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20; Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54; Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45; and Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42.
“She was literally five feet from me when it happened,” Hicks said of Amor. “When I looked over my left shoulder, the drone impacted basically right above her.”
A seventh service member — 26-year-old Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington — was killed in a separate strike in Saudi Arabia on March 1. It is unclear how many others were injured in that attack.
“Their sacrifice, and the sacrifices of their families, will never be forgotten,” Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, the chief of Army Reserve and the commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, said in a statement after their names were released.
Defense department officials did not initially specify how many had been hurt in the Kuwait attack, but later said that five were seriously wounded and “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions,” CBS reports.
Two of the service members were missing after the attack and were later found under the rubble, sources told the broadcaster.
Drones — which are relatively cheap to manufacture compared to other military equipment — typically fly slow and low to the ground to evade air defenses, and are capable of targeted attacks that can cause just as much damage.
“The problem is that you don’t get the early warning with these low and slow threats,” Tom Karako with the Center for Strategic and International Studies told The Wall Street Journal last week. “This is the next chapter of air defense. It’s an everybody problem. It’s an everywhere problem.”
