A sniper rifle might be your choice of weapon when playing any video game, and while you think you’re the bee’s knees with a scope – you probably don’t come close to this guy.
A SAS soldier in Mosul, Iraq, patiently waited for four hours to take out his target: an ISIS militant. The terrorist was darting in between buildings and would bunker down for an hour before moving to his next location. He was apparently also using a sniper rifle, a Russian Dragunov, and was successfully killing or maiming soldiers.
But after biding his time, the SAS marksman pulled the trigger.
Stock image. PA
The bullet reportedly took three seconds to travel 2,500m and obliterated the terrorist’s throat. A source has told the Daily Star: “The SAS team had him in their sights on several occasions but did not have the time to get a shot off. At such a long range, there are so many factors which can affect the flight of the bullet.
“Just as the light was beginning to fade the gunman moved into what he thought was a safe location and lifted his rifle up into his shoulder before the SAS shot him dead.”
The sniper was apparently using a CheyTac M200 Intervention rifle, dubbed the most powerful in the world. The Daily Mail says the weapon is favoured by US Navy SEALs, the Italian army, Turkey’s Maroon Berets and GROM marksmen in Poland.
Credit: CheyTac
The rifle has a range of 3,000m and costs up to $13,800 (£10,641). It even has a built in computer to let the shooter know how humidity, heat and wind will affect the shot.
Mosul is one of the last battlegrounds in the fight against ISIS in Iraq. A US commander has told the Washington Post the final days of fighting are likely to be ‘extremely violent’ with the ‘hardest days still in front of them’.
Islamic State apparently only holds about five square miles of the city, including the Great Mosque where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014. Iraqi forces believe there are only about 350 militants left, but it’s unclear what resources they have with them.
A new report from the Times found that ISIS has tested deadly poisons on prisoners to develop new chemical weapons. Papers were found at the University of Mosul, saying they had used people as ‘human guinea pigs’ to test at least two new chemical agents’.
Featured Image Credit: PA
