State: Only four people wounded at Benghazi

Only four people were wounded during the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi last year, the State Department said Friday, far fewer than the 30 or so some Republicans have mentioned in recent days.

“There has been some misreporting, if I can put it that way, in recent days about the number of injured in Benghazi,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday. “Let me just set the record completely straight here. 

“There were three security personnel injured, one with smoke inhalation at the temporary mission facility, one at the annex who was seriously injured, and … another at the annex was less seriously injured, and then we also had a contractor, so that’s a total of four. There was also some reporting that folks had had amputations, etc. There was none of that.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if all four people are Americans or if that number includes CIA personnel who were also stationed in Benghazi.

The issue of the wounded Americans became a political issue this month when Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) claimed that sources had told him that as many as 30 Americans may have been wounded in the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Republican lawmakers this week told The Hill that they may subpoena the wounded Americans or hold up President Obama’s nominee to replace Stevens in order to get access to witnesses to the attack. 

Nuland pushed back against allegations that the State Department has sought to hide the existence of the wounded Americans.

“We’ve been very clear about this from the very beginning,” she said.