RAF drone strike on jihadists halts public beheading
AN RAF drone strike stopped Islamic State fighters from carrying out a public execution in front of civilians, defence sources revealed yesterday.
The unmanned aircraft unleashed a powerful Hellfire missile on IS sentries with a “direct hit”, killing one and giving the manacled prisoners the chance to flee.
Zones
The raid was carried out last Tuesday at Abu Kamal on the banks of the Euphrates at Syria’s south-eastern border with Iraq.
The RAF routinely sends heavily armed drones patrolling over IS zones to gather intelligence and attack targets as they emerge.
The aircraft are launched from Kuwait and “flown” by pilots in remote-control pods at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.
An MoD spokesman explained how an RAF Reaper observed a group of IS fighters in Abu Kamal “mustering a large crowd of civilians” in a main street.
He said: “When a van then unloaded two shackled prisoners in front of the crowd, it became clear that Daesh (IS) were organising a public execution. Given the large number of civilians present, the Reaper’s crew could not target directly the Daesh fighters. However, two armed extremists were stationed as sentries on the roof of a building overlooking the scene.
“A Hellfire missile was fired immediately, and scored a direct hit which not only killed one of the sentries but also brought the execution to an immediate halt.”
The MoD does not know what happened to the prisoners but the attack at least gave them a chance of escape.
The unfolding public execution was relayed to the RAF crew who swiftly liaised with the US-led Coalition’s Combined Air Operations Centre at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar which authorised the strike.
In the past two years British warplanes and drones have carried out more than 1,100 strikes against the jihadists.
RAF Typhoons taking off from Akrotiri in Cyprus last week destroyed an IS mortar team near the terror outfit’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa in Syria.
The next day a pair of Typhoons also destroyed an area where IS suicide truck bombs are gathered.
Tornados flying from Cyprus last week silenced a sniper team in West Mosul, the last IS stronghold in Iraq.
They also attacked IS positions near advancing Iraqi troops, destroyed a mortar in a courtyard and cratered roads used by IS to send truck bombs into battle.
AN RAF drone strike prevented Islamic State from beheading a group of manacled prisoners, giving them the chance to escape. Drone technology in warfare seems impersonal and cold-blooded but when it can achieve results such as this then it has to be welcomed. A drone strike can be precisely targeted and deadly, without putting our own personnel in danger. And it is becoming increasingly clear that it will be a major factor in the defeat of IS.
Not all attacks are as dramatically successful as this one at Abu Kamal on the banks of the Euphrates on the Syrian border with Iraq but they are happening day by day and week by week.