BRIT DRONES KILL 100S OF TALIBAN’
Devastating support in SAS attacks
BRITISH drones have killed hundreds of Taliban fighters in secret SAS attacks.
RAF Reapers were used in more than 4,490 missions against some of the most dangerous insurgent leaders in warravaged Afghanistan.
And the Sunday People has learnt the controversial aircraft have had a devastating impact on the Taliban’s 13-year guerrilla campaign.
Some of the most spectacular successes against the rebels have come using drones to support SAS raids.
Just last month more than 100 Taliban fighters were killed in one SAS operation which used RAF Reapers to attack an insurgent stronghold.
And the aircraft have gathered vital intelligence about the movements of Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists.
After a Freedom of Information request by the Sunday People, the Ministry of Defence admitted 474 bombs and missiles have been fired from RAF Reapers in Afghanistan since 2008.
The MoD insisted the drones were only used against “legitimate military objectives”.
But they admitted four civilians died in a strike against two Taliban trucks packed with explosives in 2011.
The 10 Reapers now in Afghanistan carry thermal-imaging cameras and can operate day or night in any weather.
They are piloted by a two-man RAF crew who control them remotely from a British airbase using satellite links.
Since 2008 the Reapers have been armed with smart weapons like Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 500lb bombs.
They can fly unseen and unheard for 18 hours a day at altitudes of 30,000ft, transmitting real-time video of suspects to their controllers.
The information is then passed on to the SAS to plan air and ground attacks.
Defence sources claim the missions have killed hundreds of senior and middle-ranking Taliban commanders. And although the use of drones worries many, the MoD insist they have saved the lives of thousands of British and coalition troops.
RAF Reapers were used three weeks ago to prevent the Taliban taking the key town of Sangin in Helmand.
Drones pummelled rebel strongholds with bombs and missiles while SAS teams moved in on foot.
Hundreds of British troops have been killed and injured in Sangin since it was first occupied by the coalition in 2006. The town was handed over to the Afghan government last year and has since been regularly attacked by the Taliban.
More than 100 Afghan police and soldiers died in a Taliban raid in July. And a battlee between 800 insurgents and nd a force of SAS and Afghansh raged for a week, leaving at least 150 Taliban dead and the town still in Afghan control.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan revealed 45 civilians were killed by drones in 2013 – a third of all air-strike deaths during the year.
Across the border in Pakistan, coalition drone strikes against Taliban insurgents based there are said to have killed up to 900 civilians.
Chris Cole, head of campaign group Drone Wars UK, said: “Just over 80% of all air-strikes in the last three years were from drones.
“That is a massive change – and we need to know why that is happening.”
He added: “Armed drones will simply mean more warfare because they make it too easy to choose so-called ‘risk-free’ lethal force rather than engage in longterm sustainable solutions.