RAF Typhoon jets and Reaper drones destroy 46 ISIS targets in four day blitz

RAF war jets and drones destroyed 46 Islamic State targets in a four day blitz, it was revealed yesterday.

From Friday to Monday drones launched from a secret Middle East base – but piloted from the UK – and fighters launched from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus pounded IS ranks around Mosul.

Sunday was the busiest day as Top Gun aces annihilated 17 terror targets – including mortars and machine-gun teams – as forces fight to liberate the Iraqi city.

Last Friday a Reaper drone took out a mortar firing on Peshmerga forces with a Hellfire before flying to back operations to liberate a town on the outskirts of Mosul, destroying a tunnel network.

Meanwhile, Typhoons from RAF Akrotiri, destroyed a second tunnel entrance where terrorists were hiding.

The next day a Reaper again rescued Iraqi forces – dropping a Hellfire missile on IS fighters engaging them.

A second Hellfire then destroyed an anti-aircraft gun before a bomb was dropped on a mortar team.

A van was spotted supplying terrorist positions and was destroyed with a Hellfire, and a fourth missile accounted for another group of extremists caught in the open.

On Sunday a Reaper fired a Hellfire on a truck full of IS killers before hitting other targets.

North-east of Mosul, a pair of Typhoons used two Paveway IVs to destroy a pair of machine-gun positions, then carried out a simultaneous attack against a total of five Daesh positions – two sniper teams, two mortars and another machine-gun – spread across a couple of miles of the front line.

On Monday a Tornado flying over Mosul dropped a 1000lb bomb on IS jihadis laying booby-trap bombs.

On the same day Typhoons hit four sniper positions. The Iraqi forces reported direct hits on all four targets.

And a Reaper spotted a group of Daesh fighters travelling on motorcycles, and followed them until they joined forces with a number of other extremists before killing them with a Hellfire.

An MoD spokesman, said: “With Iraqi forces liberating the key towns of Qaraqosh and Bartallah east of Mosul, Royal Air Force aircraft have continued to provide close air support, including to Kurdish forces pressing against Mosul from the north.”