The RAF Reaper drone targeted Islamic State militants with a Hellfire missile after they were suspected of planting bombs.
14:51, UK,
Monday 10
November 2014
The drone was deployed against IS targets in Iraq. File pic
The RAF has conducted its first drone strikes in Iraq since the aircraft were sent to the region at the end of last month.
A British Reaper drone, flying out of an airbase in Kuwait, struck Islamic militants laying roadside bombs near Baiji on Sunday. One Hellfire missile was fired and killed an unknown number of insurgents.
Previously the drones have been used in a surveillance capacity over both Iraq and Syria although they are not authorised to carry out strike missions in Syrian airspace.
The drones had been based at Kandahar in Afghanistan but are being redeployed to fight Islamic State (IS) as the British draw down from Afghanistan.
Although they take off and land under the control of operators on the ground in Kuwait, the drones are piloted by RAF crew sitting in a hangar at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.
Also on Sunday, two RAF Tornados based in Cyprus were tasked to investigate suspected IS activity near Al Anbar, west of Baghdad.
They destroyed a shipping container used by insurgents to store equipment to support extortion and control of the local population.
RAF Tornados have already been flying combat missions over Iraq after Parliament gave the green light for aerial attacks in October.
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