BAGHDAD (AFP) — A missile fired from a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) killed two Shiite militiamen in Baghdad’s Sadr City on Saturday, the American military said in a statement.

The UAV observed two “criminals” loading a machine gun into the trunk of a vehicle and later watched four others unload the gun as well as four more AK-47 assault rifles into the trunk of another vehicle, the statement said.

“The UAV followed and engaged that vehicle with a hellfire missile, destroying it and killing the two occupants,” at around 3:30 pm (1230 GMT), the statement said.

The military said those killed were from Special Groups, a term it uses for militia groups allegedly trained, funded and armed by Iranian groups.

“We continue to conduct precision targeting against Special Group criminals in order to provide security and stability for the people of Baghdad,” said Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover, spokesman for the military in Baghdad.

Earlier Saturday, a medic from Sadr City said eight people were killed in overnight clashes, including two children.

Witnesses told AFP the clashes broke out as security forces were putting up concrete barriers in the southern section of the sprawling district — bastion of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr — in east Baghdad.

American forces began building a concrete wall there last week in a bid to prevent rocket and mortar attacks on the heavily fortified Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy.

But the construction project has angered local followers of Sadr.

Militiamen from Sadr’s Mahdi Army and security forces have been clashing since March 25 when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militiamen in the southern city of Basra.

The military assault in the port city spread to other Shiite areas, but they have been particularly fierce in Sadr City where at least 393 people have been killed.