Eight US service members were injured in a drone attack on a base in Syria last week, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in its first report of specific casualty figures in the incident, Reuters reported.
The news agency had initially reported that several US and coalition personnel were wounded in a drone attack on Friday at Rumalyn Landing Zone, which hosts troops from the US and other countries in the US-led coalition.
Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that three personnel had already returned to duty. The eight troops were treated for traumatic brain injury and smoke inhalation.
Ryder added that the US believed that the attack was carried out by Iran-backed forces but the Pentagon was working to determine which one.
Bases which host US troops in Iraq and Syria have frequently come under attack, though in early February, the Iranian-backed groups in Iraq announced they would stop their attacks against US troops.
Those attacks resumed in late July, when multiple rockets were launched at Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which hosts US troops. No damage or casualties were reported. Two US officials said the base itself had not been struck in the attack.
Another rocket attack on the Ain al-Asad base on Monday wounded seven US personnel.