/ 24 March 2003

Twelve wounded US soldiers flown to Germany

Twelve wounded US soldiers were flown to Germany on Monday for treatment at a military hospital, including three seriously injured believed to be among the casualties of a weekend incident at the 101st Airborne Division’s command center in Kuwait, military officials said.

The wounded, including seven with battle-related injuries, arrived in a C-141 transport from Kuwait at the US Ramstein Air Base in western Germany — the first battlefield wounded to be brought there since the start of the Iraq war. All the injured were being transferred to ambulances to be brought to the nearby US medical centre at Landstuhl.

Those arriving were expected to include three soldiers who were seriously wounded when a U.S. soldier threw grenades into tents at the 101st Airborne Division’s command center in Kuwait near the Iraqi border, said Marie Shaw, a representative for the Landstuhl hospital.

One soldier was killed in the attack and 15 injured. Military authorities are investigating the attack.

U.S. military officials provided no further details on the evacuated soldiers’ condition. Their identities were not released. – Sapa-AP