British RAF jets carry out first strikes against Islamic State in Iraq

London: Two Tornado jets from British Royal Air Force took off on Tuesday to carry out first bombings on Islamic State targets in Iraq where they were tasked to rescue Kurdish peshmerga fighters under ISIS attack.

According to the British Ministry of Defense, Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 aircraft carried out two successful precision strikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and destroyed a heavy weapons post and vehicle with a mounted machinegun.

“Machine gun-mounted vehicle destroyed by precision Brimstone missile strike nearby. Both assessed successful #Iraq,” read a tweet by the MoD.

The British jets were on an armed reconnaissance mission when they took off from RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, and were assigned the task of assisting Kurdish troops in north west Iraq.

The RAF patrol identified an heavy weapon position of ISIS using the Litening III targeting pod, and hit it with a Paveway IV guided bomb.

After that, the British jets attacked a Brimstone missile attack on an ISIS armed pick-up truck.

 

#ISIL terrorist heavy weapons post destroyed by Paveway IV guided bomb as they attacked Kurdish troops in #Iraq. — Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) September 30, 2014

The British MoD also tweeted a video showing the first air strike carried out by Tornado jets against the ISIS positions.

Video footage from the RAF Tornado cockpit during today's Brimstone missile strike on #ISIL armed pick-up truck http://t.co/ybx3BqVVct — Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) September 30, 2014

 

The British MoD said that the strikes were a part of the “international coalition’s operations to support the democratic Iraqi government”.

Some 40 nations including Arab states have signed up to the US led anti-IS coalition, which is bombing targets in Iraq and Syria to rein in the Islamic State extremists.

Talking about the strikes, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said, “Halting the advance of ISIL and helping the Iraqi government turn it back, and helping the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces to do that, is a huge task and is going to be a long campaign”.

He added that the British jets have been flying multiple sorties over Iraq since the UK Parliament gave that authority last Friday. Since then, the UK RAF has been flying important missions, gathering intelligence, deterrents against ISIL terrorism, driving them back from the villages, etc.