Summary

Monday 15 March – Typhoons struck three Daesh-held caves in northern Iraq.

Tuesday 16 March – Typhoons hit two Daesh-held caves in northern Iraq.

Wednesday 17 March – Typhoons destroyed two more Daesh-held caves in northern Iraq.

Detail

Iraqi security forces, spearheaded by their very capable Counter Terrorism Service, continue to mount operations in northern Iraq to eliminate any groups of Daesh terrorists attempting to regain a foothold in the region. Coalition airpower is supporting these operations, and Royal Air Force aircraft have played a significant role, conducting an intensive series of air strikes on Daesh targets south-west of Erbil since 10 March, where the terrorists have sought to establish bases in the numerous caves of the Makhmur mountains.

On Monday 15 March, two Typhoons successfully attacked a cave used by Daesh with Paveway IV guided bombs, and later that day a second Typhoon flight struck two more Daesh-held caves with Paveways. Two more caves, in which Daesh had established a presence, were hit with Paveway IVs on Tuesday 16 March, and a further two such caves were destroyed in like manner on Wednesday 17 March.

All of the caves were located in a remote, mountainous area, but nevertheless, very careful checks were made before each strike to ensure that there were no signs of civilians who might be placed at risk.

Previous update

The Royal Air Force has continued to conduct strikes, as part of the global coalition’s support for the Iraqi Security Forces, as they conduct operations to prevent the Daesh terrorist group from re-establishing its presence in the country.

The Iraqi forces recently identified a significant number of Daesh fighters using cave complexes south-west of Erbil. The caves identified were assessed to be particularly difficult targets and two RAF Typhoon FGR4s were therefore tasked to conduct strikes in support of ground forces from the highly-capable Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service.

On Wednesday 10 March they conducted surveillance of the area to confirm that there were no signs of civilians who might be placed at risk, before conducting the first attack using Storm Shadow missiles, which had been selected as the most appropriate weapon for the task. Following the mission, the Typhoon’s weapons were confirmed to have struck their targets precisely.

Further surveillance efforts confirmed two additional locations in the same area were also occupied by Daesh. Two Typhoons conducted precision attacks on the extremists at both locations on Thursday 11 March, using six Paveway IV guided bombs.

RAF aircraft were again in action on Friday 12 March, when they struck another group of caves used by Daesh, with eight Paveway IV bombs; and again on Sunday 14 March, when six Paveway IVs were employed against Daesh-held caves in the same remote, mountainous area.

On each occasion, our aircrew have exercised their utmost care in checking there were no signs of civilians in the area before conducting the strikes and subsequent surveillance to ensure their successful completion.