Daesh 'Creatively' Flies Drones for Surveillance, Attacks

The commander of the US-led coalition fighting Daesh said the jihadists "make extensive use of drones" for surveillance and attacks.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Fighters with the Daesh terror group persistently use drone aircraft for surveillance and attacks on enemies, indicating a technical prowess that is becoming more "creative," the commander of the US-led coalition fighting Daesh, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, said at a briefing Wednesday.

"The ISIL [Daesh] makes extensive use of drones. It is not episodic or sporadic, it is relatively constant and creative," Townsend told reporters.

In mid-October, the US Department of Defense said the group had been using commercial drones to deliver explosives and to monitor actions of the US-led coalition and Iraq’s security forces.

Townsend said Wednesday that the coalition has robust security measures in place to withstand drone attacks.

"We have solutions ranging from electronic attacks to kinetic kills with small-arms fire," he added.

The Army lieutenant general and coalition spokesman said the United States and some of its coalition partners recently field-tested several anti-drone systems to determine their effectiveness.

Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia and other countries, seized Mosul in 2014 and Raqqa in 2013 along with a number of other cities and towns in the two countries.