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Two Britons killed in RAF Syria strike, PM tells MPs | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Two British fighters with so-called Islamic State were killed by an RAF drone strike in Syria in an "act of self-defence", David Cameron has said. | |
Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan was targeted in Raqqa on 21 August and died alongside Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, and another fighter, the PM told MPs. | |
Khan, 21, had been plotting "barbaric" attacks on UK soil, he said. | |
The action was lawful and necessary, Mr Cameron said, despite MPs previously ruling out UK military action in Syria. | |
'Entirely lawful' | |
Khan was killed in a precision air strike by an RAF remotely piloted aircraft "after meticulous planning" while he was travelling in a vehicle, the prime minister said. | |
The strike was "entirely lawful" and had been approved by the attorney general, he said. | |
In a statement to the Commons, Mr Cameron said: "My first duty as prime minister is to keep the British people safe. | |
"There was a terrorist directing murder on our streets and no other means to stop him. | |
"This government does not for one moment take these decisions lightly. | |
"But I am not prepared to stand here in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on our streets and have to explain to the House why I did not take the chance to prevent it when I could have done." | |
Another British national, Junaid Hussain, from Birmingham, was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August, he added. | |
Analysis | |
By BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale | |
Unmanned Reaper drones joined RAF Tornado jets in conducting surveillance and air strikes soon after Parliament authorised military action against the group calling itself Islamic State last September. | |
The vote confined that military action to Iraq, but at the time the prime minister told MPs he "reserved the right" to act elsewhere "if there were a critical British national interest at stake". | |
The government will argue the air strike on Reyaad Khan was such a case. But carrying out an RAF airstrike in Syria will still be controversial; even more so because a British citizen was targeted. | |
Though government officials insist that he posed a direct threat to the UK and was on a legitimate "target list", there'll be plenty of questions. What was the intelligence on which the decision was based? Whose target list was he on? | |
There are reports the CIA has compiled a list of high-value targets. There will inevitably be some suspicion around the secrecy - the MOD has never publicly stated how many Reapers the RAF are operating or where they're based. | |
The fact that RAF Reapers have been flying over Syria is not in itself a surprise. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told MPs last October they would be conducting surveillance missions. | |
But in a written statement he also stated: "Reapers are not authorised to use weapons in Syria; that would require further permission." |