Minister admits RAF drone killed civilian in Syria

RAF drone pilots killed a civilian by accident during an operation to take out three Islamic State fighters in Syria, the Defence Secretary revealed yesterday.

Gavin Williamson said the civilian crossed into the strike area on a motorbike moments before the blast and was ‘unintentionally’ killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a Reaper drone operated thousands of miles away by a UK pilot.

It is the first time the Ministry of Defence has confirmed a civilian casualty since Britain began its campaign against the terror group in autumn 2014.

Mr Williamson said in a written statement published yesterday that the death on March 26 was ‘deeply regrettable’ but would not weaken Britain’s resolve to rid the world of Islamic State’s ‘poisonous ideology’.

The MoD reported at the time that the IS fighters, who were driving in the Euphrates valley in eastern Syrian, were killed by the missile after being tracked by the Reaper drone.

It was one of more than 1,600 air strikes carried out against IS targets by the RAF in Iraq and Syria, Mr Williamson said. He added that the UK ‘do everything we can to minimise the risk to civilian life’.