RAF Reaper drone fires Hellfire missile at Islamic State forces near site of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery north of Baghdad

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Britain has launched its first drone strike against Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Iraq.

An RAF Reaper drone fired a Hellfire missile at Isis forces laying improvised explosive devices (IEDs) near Baiji, the site of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery, over the weekend, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday.

Baiji, on the river Tigris 140 miles north of Baghdad, was captured by Isis in June.

Five Reapers previously based in Afghanistan were recently deployed to Iraq. Although the squadron, now consisting of 10 drones, is based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, those in Iraq are controlled remotely by RAF personnel in the area.

The US-made craft are considered to be an effective weapon against Isis fighters. They are also providing intelligence through their surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, to British Tornadoes and other manned aircraft conducting operations in northern Iraq.

They carry sensors which enable them to spy on movements for hours at a time and at a range where they are undetectable from the ground.

The UK launched its first air strikes against Isis targets in Iraq on 30 September. Some models of Reaper have a range of nearly 1,240 miles (2,000km and a top speed of about 300mph (480 km/h).

Over the past week, RAF Tornadoes have attacked Isis armed pick-up trucks and a shipping container used to store equipment on three separate occasions, according to the MoD.

Eight RAF Tornadoes have been deployed to Akrotiri, Britain’s base in Cyprus, to take part in attacks in Iraq, but not against targets in Syria.

There are also a number of British military instructors, who are training Kurdish peshmerga fighters in using machine guns and countering IEDs, and special forces in northern Iraq.