Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters in Washington that the attacks have resulted in approximately 62 injuries to US personnel, but that number did not include the eight cited by Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder.

According to AFP, Singh said the fighters were targeted in Iraq “because the AC-130 was able to determine the point of origin from where the close-range ballistic missile was… fired to the base” and then tracked the militants in their vehicle.

She added it was the first time such a munition had been used against US forces since the wave of attacks began on Oct 17.

A source from the Hashed al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilisation Forces — mainly pro-Iranian units now integrated in the regular armed forces — had earlier confirmed that a strike on a vehicle had killed one fighter and wounded three others. The strike hit a vehicle belonging to a pro-Iranian group in a convoy travelling through Abu Ghraib, 30 kilometres west of Baghdad.

A group called “the Islamic Resistance in Iraq” said Tuesday that one of its fighters was killed, without elaborating on the circumstances. His funeral was held in a Baghdad mosque Tuesday and hundreds of fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi attended, according to an AFP journalist.