An ISIS militant has been photographed wielding a fearsome new weapon, a 10-foot-long sniper rifle so large that it is balanced on two separate tripods.
According to the Daily Mail , the photograph shows the unnamed ISIS militant aiming the sniper rifle out of a window in Kobane. Huge bullet casings can be seen on the ground next to the rifle, which is thought to have a 23mm caliber, far larger than standard size.
Firearms expert David Dyson noted that the impact of such a weapon was indeterminate as many pertinent details of the rifle’s construction cannot be ascertained from the photo alone.
“The problem with identifying the effect of this gun is firstly that we don’t know for sure what the caliber is, although there wouldn’t be a lot of point in building something like this if it wasn’t of a significant caliber,” he observed.
“Secondly, and probably of more importance, we don’t know how well it is made: is the barrel accurately machined and rifled?
“The effect will also depend on the type of ammunition used. These rounds exist [23mm] fitted with high explosive incendiary or armor piercing incendiary projectiles. They will be effective against personnel and vehicles including lightly armored ones.”
PIC: #IS fighter using the giant 23mm sniper rifle in #Kobani north #Syria – @zaidbenjamin #ISIS pic.twitter.com/c26e894i1c
— Live From Mogadishu (@Daudoo) December 1, 2014
The image emerged after a rival group, al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, toured villages in the southern countryside of Idlib in a show of force. Traveling in a convoy of pickup trucks bristling with antiaircraft weapons and heavy machine guns, the group drove through settlements they said they had captured from Syrian rebels.
As the Inquisitr has recently reported, ISIS’ efforts to capture Kobane, a key Syrian border town, have ground to a halt. Kurdish fighters and U.S.-led airstrikes have reportedly bogged down ISIS’ advance, forcing them into a “War of Attrition” that is already a symbolic victory for Kobane’s defenders.
According to the Daily Record , U.S. airstrikes recently killed two British jihadists in Kobane. Abu Abdullah al-Habashi, 21, and Abu Dharda, 20, were believed to have traveled to Syria at the end of last year. SAS troops, using quad bikes and sniper rifles, have also reportedly killed hundreds of ISIS extremists in ambushes over the past month.
[Images: Daniel Leal-Olivas and Unknown, via the Daily Mail ]
