Last night, Baghdad’s Sadr City district was, once again, the scene of violent clashes between the U.S. military and militants, this time with victims on only one side.

According to the Associated Press, an unmanned aerial vehicle, operated by U.S. soldiers over the eastern Baghdad Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, detected a group of suspects carrying rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. Soon after, the Hellfire missile deployed managed to kill at least six of the militants.

The armed drones are used on a daily basis for long patrols over the city and use special sensors during the night to detect insurgent activity. The Americans are also equipped with heavily armored “route clearance” vehicles, which search for hidden bombs using searchlights.

A comment from the Iraqi police was expected today but up to this point nothing surfaced so the official victim count is still awaited.

The violent standoffs between the Shiite militants and U.S. - Iraqi forces have been present less and less over the past few weeks, giving the troops time to install themselves in the needed areas, as the general responsibility is being transferred over to the Iraqi units. The local troops are hundreds of meters ahead of the American forces on the battle front, using the stand-offs to gather valuable combat experience.

The New York Times quoted Lieutenant Bowen, a 23-year-old commander of Third Platoon, Bravo Company talking with a reporter about the Iraqi Army: “The I.A. needs to start doing it on their own,” in an effort to take the dependency level to a lower point.

Still, as last night’s event showed, the Iraqi troops continue to heavily benefit from the U.S. assistance, their support being considered decisive at this point.