Over 100 injured US soldiers flown to Germany

1.00pm

BERLIN - More than 100 American soldiers, seriously wounded during the Falluja offensive in Iraq, arrived at the United States' main European military hospital in Germany on Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The hospital has expanded its intensive care unit and medical surgical wards to cope with the stream of patients.

The US military flew 102 soldiers in two plane loads to the hospital, with a further two planes of wounded due on Friday, spokeswoman Marie Shaw said.

"This is one of our peak periods. We are very busy. It is more than we have seen in the last couple of months because we used to admit about 30 patients a day," Shaw said.

Thursday's arrivals joined 125 wounded who arrived from Monday to Wednesday, including 70 on Wednesday, at the hospital.

Landstuhl is the usual destination for seriously injured US troops stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"They have all kinds of injuries -- explosion, blast injuries, gun shot wounds," she said.

It was possible that some intensive care patients had also suffered amputated limbs, she said.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq