An American AC-130 gunship on Monday struck a vehicle in Iraq and killed Iranian-backed fighters who had targeted an air base used by U.S. forces with missiles and a drone, according to the Pentagon.
Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq was attacked by the fighters with close-range ballistic missiles, causing “several non-serious injuries” as well as some damage to infrastructure — the latest in what have become numerous attacks on troops in the region, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Tuesday.
“Immediately following the attack, a U.S. military AC-130 aircraft in the area conducted a self-defense strike against an Iranian-backed militia vehicle and the number of Iranian-backed militia personnel involved in this attack,” she said.
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The strike “resulted in some hostile fatalities,” Singh said.
The attack on an installation used by the U.S. military in the Middle East is at least the 66th since Oct. 17, and U.S. personnel have suffered at least 62 injuries, according to the Pentagon. Singh noted that the figure does not include any injuries from the most recent attack “as they are still being evaluated.”
The high tempo of attacks began in the weeks after the start of Israel’s war against Hamas, which resulted in the U.S. deploying two carrier strike groups, a Marine expeditionary unit and additional aircraft to the…
