Small drones are cheap, easy to buy and operate and can provide distance and anonymity to their operators. Then in November a secret bomb factory was discovered in Mosel, Northern Iraq. The fear is that IS are planning to marry together two technologies, drones as a dispersal device and chemical, biological or radiological material as the dispersant. IS has used drones for propaganda filming and intelligence gathering for years and last October it used a homemade drone to attack and kill Pashmerga fighters. It is these technologies that are of particular concern to the security services but their concern does not stop there. Use of mustard gas and chlorine against Kurdish Peshmerga fighters is well documented, as is research by IS to develop radiological dispersion devices. With the return to the UK from Syria and Iraq of between 400-500 Jihadists counter terrorism experts are now concerned that IS are planning a “technology transfer” of techniques, substances and tactics learned abroad for use in Europe.
Inventive and spectacular ways of killing people has long been a hallmark of Islamic State’s modus operandi and recent intelligence reports suggest that the group are becoming even more ambitious in their planning.
