Islamic State fighters reportedly target French commandos with new weapon in Iraq: an exploding drone

Reading Time:2 minutes

A DJI Phantom 4 drone. It's unclear what type of drone was used to attack French troops this month, but there has been a proliferation of the small remote-controlled aircraft on battlefields around the world. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:45pm, 12 Oct 2016Updated: 9:14pm, 12 Oct 2016

In a possible first-of-its-kind attack on western forces, the Islamic State used a drone loaded with explosives to strike a Kurdish and French position in northern Iraq earlier this month, according to a report in the French newspaper Le Monde.

The October 2 strike outside Irbil killed two Kurdish peshmerga fighters and wounded two French Special Operations troops, according to the report. One of the soldiers is critically injured. It is unclear what type of drone the militants used and if it dropped its munitions on the troops or was rammed into their position before exploding.

Drone use by militants and insurgent groups has steadily risen for years as cheap off-the-shelf models have become easily acquired and simple to fly. In Ukraine, store-bought quadcopter drones are used on the front lines in the country’s east by both government troops and Russian-backed separatists in primarily a reconnaissance role, helping locate trench lines and spot for artillery.

A French sailor walks on the deck of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle docked at Port Zayed, Abu Dhabi. France began airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq on September 30. Photo: EPA

In Iraq and Syria, a host of insurgent and opposition groups have used the drones in similar roles, though there have been a few instances of the remotely piloted craft being used to drop what appear to be explosives. Insurgent groups, including the Islamic State, also use the vehicles to film propaganda videos.

The apparent October 2 attack raises questions about how conspicuous western troops look when embedded alongside their local counterparts and if the Islamic State drone was specifically searching for them. Certain types of uniforms, weapons and vehicles are often giveaways for Special Operation troops despite their propensity to try to blend in with facial hair and similar looking camouflage patterns on their equipment. It is unclear if those western forces will take more steps to blend in or will acquire more robust counter-drone measures if drone attacks continue.

US forces in Iraq have in the past been spotted with special equipment to defeat drones, though it is unclear how many countries have adopted them.