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An SAS team used the AW50 to blast a lorry ­taking Islamic State killers towards an undefended Iraqi village.

It is the first report of British ground troops in action in the region and comes after Prime Minister David Cameron said there would be no UK “boots on the ground” in a combat role.

Two SAS troopers spotted the Islamic State convoy from a hillside ­observation point in northern Iraq.

The elite troops feared the fighters were planning to target vulnerable civilians in a nearby village. They tried to call in an airstrike but no jets were in the area.

Instead, the SAS pair blasted the lead vehicle with a single round from their AW50 rifle fitted with a silencer.

The weapon fires the same huge bullet as a heavy machine gun and can cut a man in half from more than a mile away.

The first shot hit the truck’s engine and split it in two.

The confused IS thugs jumped down from the open-top vehicle and radioed for another so that they could continue their advance.

When the insurgents climbed into the second lorry, the SAS team fired a second shot, destroying that too.

The fanatics then realised they were under attack and fled in their remaining ­vehicles.

A senior source last night told the Daily Star Sunday: “It was a classic special forces operation.

"The SAS sniping team didn’t want to engage the IS militants in a full-blown battle because they were part of a small patrol spread out over an area.

"But they knew they could not just let the convoy pass and start killing people in the villages.

"So rather than hitting the militants they destroyed their vehicles.

The jihadis had no idea who was firing at them or from where.

"They couldn’t even hear the shot. They panicked and basically ran away.

"It’s not always about killing the enemy but neutralising the threat – that’s what these guys did.”

The AW50 is a bolt-action rifle which can fire a .50 calibre round over 1,500m. It was designed to destroy radar units, ­aircraft on runways and cars, lorries or lightly armoured tanks.

The AW50 has been an SAS favourite for several years.

Its recoil is so powerful the rifle needs a special hydraulic buffer system in the butt to prevent damage to the firer and to increase accuracy.

It has a five-round magazine and at 15kg weighs four times as much as the average assault rifle.

One SAS source said: "This weapon in the right hands is phenomenal.

"A team could take out a squadron of aircraft or helicopters on a runway and it will obliterate lightly-armoured vehicles.

"Troops call it ‘The Cannon’ because they say it has a kick like one and weighs almost as much.”