RAF TYPHOONS HAVE conducted a series of missions in Iraq that have assisted ground forces to inflict the heaviest defeat yet on Daesh forces.
The Ministry of Defence have reported that over Christmas the aircraft deployed to Cyprus earlier this month were in action in a successful Iraqi operation to recapture the town of Ramadi, while the Typhoons have also been in operations in northern Iraq around Mosul.
An MoD spokesperson said: “On Wednesday 23 December, a Typhoon patrol to the east of Mosul conducted a total of six successful attacks with eight Paveway IV precision guided bombs, which destroyed four terrorist-held buildings and a tunnel, including ammunitions stores, several heavy machine-guns, and a sniper position.
“Thursday 24 December saw Typhoons operating near Mosul, where they destroyed another Daesh building with a Paveway, whilst over Ramadi, two pairs of Tornados again provided close air support to the Iraqi troops. The GR4s worked closely with other coalition aircraft to deliver two successful Paveway attacks on groups of terrorist fighters.”
Operations continued on Christmas Day then on Sunday the Typhoons linked with Tornado GR4’s, with the MoD statement continuing: “RAF operations on Sunday 27 December focused largely on northern Iraq, with Typhoons using Paveway bombs to engage an armoured vehicle and mortar teams in the area of Tal Afar and Kisik.
“South-west of Mosul, a Tornado flight destroyed two terrorist-occupied buildings with Paveway IVs, then attacked a group of extremists in the open. A second Typhoon patrol over the northern region assisted Kurdish peshmerga in close combat with Daesh, striking two terrorist groups with Paveway IVs.”