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posted by janrinok on Saturday October 15 2016, @09:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the everybody-can-have-deadly-toys-now dept.

Drones have previously been used by extremists in southwest Asia to gather information, but this is the first time a weaponized drone was successful for them.

The independent news outlet Morning Ledger reports

The drone was seen and intercepted October 2 by Kurdish fighters in Northern Iraq. Kurdish fighters shot down the drone to prevent further spying from their enemies. They were also instructed by American commanders to shoot any small aircraft since there has been evidence of the ISIS trying to weaponize their drones.

They decided to take the drone apart back at their outpost[1] and as soon as they did, it exploded[paywall]. The explosion killed two Kurdish fighters, severely wounded two French soldiers, and lightly wounded the other French men on the scene.

[...] Prior to the drone attack that killed Kurdish fighters, ISIS had two unsuccessful tests in weaponizing their drones. The first two were witnessed by the Kurds and Americans, which led to the Americans' fire-at-will command for small aircraft.

"The explosive device inside was disguised as a battery--there was a very small amount of explosives in it, but it was enough to go off and kill them", said an American senior official.

[1] Reports conflict on this point.

Reuters reports

The drone blew up when Peshmerga fighters tried to lift it after it crashed to the ground, Jabbar al-Yawar, secretary general of the autonomous Kurdish region's defense ministry, told Reuters. "It seems it was booby-trapped."

The French newspaper Le Monde reported on [October 11] that the drone had been intercepted in flight on Oct. 2 and exploded near the Kurdish and French soldiers when it hit the ground. It was unclear, Le Monde said, whether the drone was remotely detonated or carried a timed bomb.

[...] French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll confirmed the injuries.

"Yes. They were injured by a drone that landed and then exploded", he told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 15 2016, @07:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 15 2016, @07:40PM (#414643)

    Trump the Man is actually quite progressive. It really makes me wonder about the nature of the long con (since 1999 when he publicly moved away from the D team). He wasn't really in play politically when Clinton lost to Obama in the D primary, and then he gained political legitimacy among the wingnut crowd with the birther thing. People have been saying that Clinton started birther-ism. Seems like it's a team effort.

    Now he's imploding as planned. I suppose all I can think of it all is that at least Lyin' Ted didn't make it. Maybe it's for the best. I'll be voting third party as usual. Anybody who thinks that Trump is serious about being president has been conned. Note how he bounces back every time the R team starts thinking about replacing him as their nominee.

    My bet is that the "grab 'em by the pussy" tape was recorded a few days before it was "leaked."

  • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday October 15 2016, @07:54PM

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Saturday October 15 2016, @07:54PM (#414651) Homepage Journal

    Trump the Man is actually quite progressive. It really makes me wonder about the nature of the long con (since 1999 when he publicly moved away from the D team). He wasn't really in play politically when Clinton lost to Obama in the D primary, and then he gained political legitimacy among the wingnut crowd with the birther thing. People have been saying that Clinton started birther-ism. Seems like it's a team effort.

    Now he's imploding as planned. I suppose all I can think of it all is that at least Lyin' Ted didn't make it. Maybe it's for the best. I'll be voting third party as usual. Anybody who thinks that Trump is serious about being president has been conned. Note how he bounces back every time the R team starts thinking about replacing him as their nominee.

    My bet is that the "grab 'em by the pussy" tape was recorded a few days before it was "leaked."

    I suggest applying Hanlon's Razor [wikipedia.org] here. You're giving everyone *way* too much credit.
    The Dems don't have the gumption or the smarts to pull off something like that, and Trump is (as he has always been) an opportunist who will say whatever he thinks is necessary to get what he wants. Or haven't you been paying attention these past 30 or 40 years?

    It's ridiculous to theorize that the tape was recorded a few weeks ago, as the leaked tape [businessinsider.com] depicts Trump doing a cameo on a soap opera. This is a documented occurrence. Even more, Arianne Zucker [wikipedia.org] is now 42. There's no way she was 42 in the video I saw.

    You could have at least included time machines and alien abduction to make your scenario seem *more* plausible.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr