4 Marines still hospitalized nearly a month after suicide bombing in Afghanistan

Four Marines wounded during an Aug. 26 bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul remain at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Originally 15 Marines were being treated at the center, located in Bethesda, Maryland, in the days after the attack.

The Marine Corps would not name the wounded Marines, nor confirm which units they came from, due to privacy reasons.

One is in “is very serious but stable condition, three are in serious but stable condition,” Capt. Johnny Henderson, a Marine Corps spokesman, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

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The Marines were injured when a suicide bomber, alleged to be a member of ISIS-K, approached a group of Marines processing refugees at the airport’s Abbey Gate.

The Marines had been aware of the security threat, Politico reported, but kept the gate open hoping to get a group of refugees associated with the British government through the gate.

Some Marines were attempting to disperse the crowd when the bomb went off, Maj. Ben Sutphen told CBS Morning in the first eyewitness interview approved by the Marine Corps.

Sutphen was only 15 feet from the blast but was saved because there was a truck with loudspeakers between him and the suicide bomber. He was wounded.

The attack killed 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, a soldier and roughly 170 Afghans.

The names of the dead are: Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, with 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, out of Camp Pendleton, California; Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, with 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Naval Support Activity Bahrain; Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, with Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit; Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, with 2/1; Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, with 2/1; Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, with 2/1; Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, with 2/1; Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, with 2/1; Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, with 2/1; Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, with 2/1; Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, with 2/1; Navy corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, assigned to 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California, and soldier Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, assigned to 9th PSYOP Battalion, 8th PSYOP Group, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

As of Sep. 10, 29 Purple Hearts had been awarded to Marines and corpsman attached to Marine units, while another 12 were pending.

All the dead Marines and the corpsman had Purple Hearts approved.

At least one Marine guarding the airport was wounded prior to the Aug. 26 suicide bombing.

That Marine was with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines and took a “grazing” wound to the leg in the first days of the airport defense.

The Marine was quickly patched up and returned to duty, Brig. Gen. Peter D. Huntley, director of the operations division for Marine plans, policies and operations, told reporters in a mid-August briefing.