British drone strikes have zapped more than 1,400 ISIS terrorists over last six years
DRONE strikes by British forces have zapped more than 1,400 IS terrorists over six years.
The figures underline how vital and increasingly frequent bombing missions by pilotless craft are in today’s hi-tech conflicts.
Flight logs released by the Ministry of Defence show RAF MQ-9 Reaper drones, controlled by crews in bunkers in the UK, have been on 4,107 sorties in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
Drone bomb and missile strikes, some backed by the US, have killed or wounded an estimated 1,409 enemy fighters.
They include the killings of IS Brit “Beatle” Mohammed Emwazi, 27, and White Widow jihadi Sally Jones, 48.
The drones can travel at 287mph, fly at over 30,000ft and carry 500lb bombs or Hellfire missiles.
Operators watch the strikes on a live feed to monitor their hit rates.
RAF logs show 972 targets, including 13 this year, have been killed or injured in Iraq since 2014, while 437 were struck in Syria.
But the tally is an estimate based on photographic evidence and debris left behind.
Emwazi — dubbed Jihadi John and targeted for beheading hostages — was killed in Raqqa, Syria, in November 2015.
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Jones, who fled Kent to recruit for the terrorist group in Syria, was wiped out in a strike in June 2017.
Her son JoJo, 12, was also thought to have been killed.
An MoD spokesman said: “We always seek to minimise the risk of civilian casualties through our rigorous targeting.”
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