But as they cower in an Iraqi palm grove, their armoured personnel carrier is blasted – by a pilot sitting 3,000 miles away.

The jihadists were wiped out by a Hellfire missile fired from a Reaper drone operated from a hi-tech control centre at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

The footage of Monday’s attack, with sensitive information about the drone blacked out, was in a video released yesterday showing how UK forces are launching deadly strikes on IS. British warplanes – drones and Tornados – have killed nearly 250 militants in Iraq after months of sustained air strikes on enemy targets.

An RAF source said: ‘They can run but they can’t hide.’ He added that in some raids as many as ten to 15 extremists were taken out by a single bomb or missile.

In one strike, jihadists were blasted by armed drones and fighter jets after their hideouts were located, covered in sand and camouflage nets.

Militants are trying to conceal their armoured personnel carriers and Humvees under the nets and among palm groves to avoid attack.

But RAF Tornados, equipped with advance surveillance technology, are spying on IS fanatics for up to 20 hours a day, watching their every move before firing missiles and dropping 500lb laser-guided bombs on them.

Figures released to the Daily Mail showed that an estimated 242 IS fighters were killed by British forces between October and May.

In January alone, 50 IS fighters were killed by the UK military, another 11 in February, 31 in March, 38 in April and 37 in May.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: ‘Islamic State is an evil and barbaric organisation. It is murdering innocent civilians on a huge scale in the Middle East and it poses an extremely serious terrorism threat to our country. That’s why the action our armed forces are taking to combat it is so important.’

Referring to Monday’s attack, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘Although the terrorists attempted to conceal their vehicle in a palm grove, this proved no defence against the Reaper. The Reaper subsequently destroyed an armoured pick-up truck, which had been converted to a large car bomb.’

Britain has eight Tornado GR4 jets in the region. They have carried out 300 strikes during more than 1,000 missions since October. More than 900 British personnel are assisting Iraqi security forces with their fight against IS.

Special Forces are also on the ground assisting the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqis.

Last year MPs voted to allow RAF strikes against IS in Iraq. Earlier this month Mr Fallon set out the evidence for extending British military action into Syria, where IS has its headquarters.

He made clear, however, that the Government would not stage a new vote of MPs on the issue unless there was ‘some consensus’ across the House for widening the existing RAF operations against IS in Iraq. 

(dailymail.co.uk)