Isis: British RAF Reaper Drones Conduct First Airstrikes on Terror Group in Iraq

Britain has conducted its first drone strikes against the Islamic State [Isis] militants in Iraq.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that an RAF Reaper drone shot a hellfire missile at IS forces who were placing homemade explosive devices north of Baghdad.

The RAF Reaper drones were used in Afghanistan and in Syria against IS for surveillance purposes.

The Hellfire missile was fired from Kuwait but controlled by British forces at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

IS launched a lightning offensive across northern and western Iraq earlier this year, capturing the key cities of Mosul, Tikrit and Fallujah.

British forces had already been flying combat missions over Iraq against the terror group, using RAF Tornados, after Parliament approved such action in September by a vote of 524 to 43, a majority of 481.

On Sunday, near the province of Anbar, west of Baghdad, two Tornado GR4s fired a Brimstone missile at a "shipping contained used by the terrorists to store equipment to support extortion and control of the local population".