On the night of Tuesday 28 April, a pair of Typhoons operating from RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus and supported by a Voyager aerial refuelling tanker, joined other coalition aircraft in an attack on a series of caves in the north-east of Iraq.
The Typhoons dropped precision-guided Paveway IV bombs and about ten Daesh militants were killed in the joint UK-US strike. The raid was carried out following intelligence that had identified the location of the Daesh cell, which was operating in the Hamrin mountains, northeast of the Iraqi town of Bayji. The RAF jets targeted six caves, while US strikes were carried out on four other caves.
Prior to release of weapons a thorough check of the surrounding area for any signs of non-combatants was made. Later surveillance has confirmed all the RAF weapons struck their targets successfully, removing more Daesh fighters from the battlefield and further downgrading the terrorist movement.
The Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:
“The strikes continue because the Daesh threat is relentless and so will we be.”
The Royal Air Force continues to fly daily armed reconnaissance missions over Iraq and eastern Syria as part of the global coalition against the Daesh terrorist movement.
