Colonel David Rubenstein, who heads the US military hospital at Landstuhl, western Germany, said the 19-year-old was in "a good emotional state" despite multiple injuries.

They include fractures to her right arm, both legs, her right foot and her right ankle, as well as to her head and spine.

He could not confirm how they occurred, but said she did not appear to have suffered knife or gunshot wounds as reported shortly after her rescue.

"She was not shot," he told a news conference at Landstuhl.

Rubenstein said Lynch was undergoing a series of operations. She had one on her spine Thursday and was again on the treatment table as he was speaking.

She is also receiving psychological treatment.

The story of Lynch's dramatic rescue from Iraqi captivity earlier this week has made her a national hero in the United States, where her smiling face has dominated the press and led to tributes from US leaders.

US President George W. Bush hailed her as a "brave young soldier" during a speech Thursday.

Iraqi forces ambushed Lynch's company after it took a wrong turn last month near the southern city of Nasiriyah.

Initial press reports had quoted a US official as saying she had sustained multiple gunshots wounds and watched other soldiers in her unit die around her in fighting when she was captured March 23.

But her father Gregory Lynch said he and his wife had spoken to her at the hospital and that she had "no multiple gunshot wounds or knife stabs."

Special forces rescued the supply clerk with the 507th Maintenance Company in a pre-dawn raid on an Iraqi-held hospital in the southern town of Nasiriyah where she was being held.

Lynch was flown to Landstuhl, the largest US military hospital outside the United States which is treating many soldiers wounded in the Gulf.

"Her emotional state is very good. She's doing well," Rubenstein said.

"She's talking with staff, she's good, she's laughing, she's making jokes."

He said she called her mother within an hour of arriving at Landstuhl, and was also talking a lot with a friend from her unit who travelled with her.

She has submitted a list of favourite foods such as turkey, apple tart and carrots -- "a typical American girl," Rubenstein said -- and chosen the frame for a new pair of prescription glasses.

Her room has no television and she has asked for her home town newspaper.

Rubenstein said Lynch was grateful for the prayers and support offered for her safety.

He had no date yet for her expected repatriation to the United States. Her family lives in Palestine, West Virginia.

According to US media reports her family was due to fly to her bedside, but a spokesman for the Landstuhl facility said they were not there and he did not know if they were coming.

Rubenstein said another 48 soldiers injured in the Gulf region were due to fly into Landstuhl later Friday, including 18 with combat-related wounds.

Not counting the imminent new arrivals, the centre has until now treated a total of 226 injured troops since the conflict broke out March 20, of whom 96 were wounded in battle.

SPACE.WIRE