A British Special Air Service sniper is being hailed a hero after killing three jihadis and two Islamic State guards with just three bullets, potentially saving hundreds of innocent lives.
An unnamed military veteran from the United Kingdom was about 2,600 feet away from an Islamic State bomb factory near Mosul, Iraq, when three men were seen leaving the factory in heavy coats, despite the warm weather.
An armed man watches as a vehicle, reportedly belonging to Iraqi security forces, is seen in flames on June 10, 2014,in Mosul, Iraq, some 370 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Some 500,000 Iraqis fled their homes in Mosul after Jihadist militants took control, the International Organization for Migration said. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
The U.K.'s Express reported that the men were wearing the coats to hide suicide vests they were wearing underneath. According to the newspaper, the men were on their way to a nearby town where they planned to attack civilians.
But before they could get far, the sniper opened fire on one of the coated men, detonating his vest. The explosion killed him along with two Islamic State guards. The other two would-be jihadis tried to run back into the building but the British sniper fatally shot one of them in the head and detonated the other's explosive vest with a bullet, killing him.
The Special Air Service unit was sent in to investigate the area about three weeks ago. No airstrikes were being planned or conducted because of the number of civilians living nearby.
(H/T: Express)
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