Mulcair raises red flags after sniper breaks record

NDP leader Tom Mulcair is forgoing the celebration and raising red flags after reports a Canadian sniper in Iraq broke the world record for the longest confirmed kill.

National Defence says the sniper is a member of the ultrasecret Joint Task Force 2 unit deployed as part of Canada’s mission against ISIL, and that his target was more 3.5 kilometres away.

That is more than a kilometre farther than the previous record, which was held by a British sniper who shot a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2009.

But while news of the shot is spreading around the world like wildfire, Mulcair has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raising concerns about what the shot means for Canada’s mission in Iraq. In particular, Mulcair says the incident raises fresh questions about the Liberals’ promise that Canadian soldiers would not be involved in combat with ISIL.

The government has long maintained Canadians soldiers in Iraq are not in combat, even though their so-called “advise and assist” mission allows them to shoot and kill ISIL fighters.