A Spanish naval base has received its first seven wounded US servicemen and hospital facilities are being expanded to treat casualties from the war in Iraq.
The seven US troops flew from Kuwait to Naval Station Rota, a base on the southern coast of Spain that the United States is using under a bilateral agreement. Most of the injuries were from shrapnel.
The casualties from Iraq are among the first patients to be treated at a 116-bed, "rapid-assembly" hospital that opened at Rota on February 24th, military spokesmen said.
Construction of a second, 250-bed hospital began this week, and it can easily be expanded to 500 beds if necessary, the US military said.
In Germany, the Landstuhl Medical Facility near the US Ramstein air base has increased staffing levels and is treating 21 casualties from Iraq. Officials would not say if capacity there was being expanded.