A British sniper killed an Islamic State (ISIS) executioner from 1,000 meters away, saving a boy and his father from certain death. The incident happened last month but the remarkable news was only reported recently in the U.K..
The marksman is a member of the elite SAS sniper team dispatched in Northern Syria after an Iraqi informant relayed the execution site, Free Beacon reported. Several Shia Muslims were already beheaded when the group arrived in the area. The executioners were on a killing rampage as the victims refused to denounce their faith. The snipers, however, were just in time as the boy and his father were about to be decapitated. The boy was reportedly 8-years-old, according to the Mirror.
"Through binoculars the soldiers could see that the crowd were terrified and many were in tears," the Daily Star reported. The executioner came with two other armed cohorts flanking his sides.
Before proceeding with his work, the ISIS henchman began addressing the crowd, occasionally slapping and kicking the boy and his father on the desert floor. This was the opportunity the sniper team had been waiting for.
One of the marksmen deployed a .50-caliber silenced sniper rifle and shot the executioner in the head, killing him instantly. The sniper team proceeded on taking down the two other ISIS thugs. All in all, three bullets were spent for the three kills, according to Free Beacon.
The team earlier considered using a Reaper drone to carry out the rescue operation. Defense sources, however, revealed that the option was not chosen because of its potential to kill civilians. A whole village was forced to witness the execution at gunpoint.
As the ISIS executioners collapsed one by one, the crowd could only stare in confusion.
"Someone from the crowd then ran over and untied the father and son's hands and took their blindfolds off," the Express reported. The freed prisoners were then last seen fleeing towards the Turkish border.
