German intel warns ISIS can shoot down passenger planes – report — RT News
Islamic State militants in northern Iraq have modern portable air defense systems that are capable of shooting down a passenger plane, Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported citing the country’s foreign intelligence agency.
According to the media report published on Sunday, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) informed the German Bundestag of the threat at a closed session last week.
German authorities have not yet confirmed the report. Several airlines, including Austrian Airlines and Qatar Airways, still fly in the airspace over northern Iraq in control of the extremists.
Earlier several reports emerged saying that the militants in the region were in possession of MANPADs. In particular, the anti-government militants stormed the Tabqa air base in north-central Syria, which enabled them to take control of the whole Raqqa province– currently an IS stronghold - in August. The militants reportedly seized a cache of the portable surface-to-air missiles stored there. In October, there were reports by the Iraqi military that IS extremists had MANPADs in their arsenal.
The IS militants - assessed by the US as the best-funded terrorists in the world - have seized large swaths of Syria and northern Iraq and established a self-proclaimed caliphate in the Middle East.
A US-led coalition launched airstrikes targeting the militants’ positions in Syria in September. These strikes joined US air operations against the IS in Iraq which began a month earlier.
On Sunday, the US military and partner states conducted 12 airstrikes on the IS positions in Iraq, the US Central Command said. Five separate airstrikes were conducted by the US military against IS targets in Syria in the city of Kobani, US officials added.
Islamic State militants in northern Iraq have modern portable air defense systems that are capable of shooting down a passenger plane, Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported citing the country’s foreign intelligence agency.
According to the media report published on Sunday, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) informed the German Bundestag of the threat at a closed session last week.
German authorities have not yet confirmed the report. Several airlines, including Austrian Airlines and Qatar Airways, still fly in the airspace over northern Iraq in control of the extremists.
Earlier several reports emerged saying that the militants in the region were in possession of MANPADs. In particular, the anti-government militants stormed the Tabqa air base in north-central Syria, which enabled them to take control of the whole Raqqa province– currently an IS stronghold - in August. The militants reportedly seized a cache of the portable surface-to-air missiles stored there. In October, there were reports by the Iraqi military that IS extremists had MANPADs in their arsenal.
The IS militants - assessed by the US as the best-funded terrorists in the world - have seized large swaths of Syria and northern Iraq and established a self-proclaimed caliphate in the Middle East.
A US-led coalition launched airstrikes targeting the militants’ positions in Syria in September. These strikes joined US air operations against the IS in Iraq which began a month earlier.
On Sunday, the US military and partner states conducted 12 airstrikes on the IS positions in Iraq, the US Central Command said. Five separate airstrikes were conducted by the US military against IS targets in Syria in the city of Kobani, US officials added.
