Adopting IS tactic, Iraqi forces weaponise small drones
MOSUL, Iraq: Inside an armoured vehicle in Mosul, a colonel scans live footage from a drone flying above the Iraqi city, hunting targets for a new weapon deployed against jihadists.
The Islamic State group has used small commercial drones to drop explosives on advancing Iraqi forces since they launched the offensive to retake Iraq's second city in October.
As the battle now focuses on recapturing west Mosul, Colonel Hussein Muayad's federal police forces have adopted the tactic, equipping their own remotecontrolled surveillance drones with 40 mm grenades that are usually fired from grenade launchers.
“Residents would stare at the sky” during the Mosul fighting, fearing IS drones, says Muayad, wearing a black jacket over his federal police uniform.
“Now it's the enemy whose eyes never leave the sky.”
The moustachioed police officer in his 40s is clearly proud of the new military tactic.
“They used to hit us once. But we can hit them up to four times with a single drone,” he says.
Lieutenant General Raed Shaker Jawdat of the federal police – who are taking part in the battle alongside a special forces unit – says the “new military tactic” has been very effective.
“Dozens of terrorists have been killed and wounded. Jihadist movements have been paralysed,” Jawdat says. — AFP