Six insurgents were introduced to a Hellfire missile early Friday morning. AFP:
Six insurgents were killed by US aircraft in the southern port of Basra early Friday, hours after a Hellfire missile fired from a drone killed six militants in the capital, US and British military officials said.
The strike in Basra happened when US aircraft homed in on the northern Al-Hayanihah district after identifying a group of militants, British spokesman Major Tom Holloway told AFP by telephone.
"The air strike was launched after positively identifying a mortar team that was engaging the Iraqi troops on the ground," Holloway said.
The above photo (AFP/Essam al-Sudani) shows an Iraqi man sifting through the wreckage of a building damaged by a US airstrike in Basra on Friday.
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Hellfire missiles are used in urban areas because the relatively small warhead reduces the risk of civilian casualties.
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