British sniper kills six Taliban with one bullet

The incredible 930-yard (850m) shot was fired by a 20-year-old Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards in Kakaran, southern Afghanistan, in December last year

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"A British sniper killed SIX Taliban with just ONE bullet after hitting a suicide bomber’s trigger switch whose device then exploded, it emerged last night.

The incredible 930-yard (850m) shot was fired by a 20-year-old Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards in Kakaran, southern Afghanistan, in December last year.

The bullet hit the switch, killing the suicide bomber and five others around him caught in the blast, preventing a major attack on British troops.

It is understood the Lance Corporal, who has not been named, was using an L115A3 gun, the Army’s most powerful sniper weapon.

And it was reported last night that the same sharpshooter killed a Taliban machine gunner from 1,465 yards (1,340m) on his first tour of duty.

December’s incident - in which British and Afghan troops were engaged in a gun battle with 15 to 20 insurgents - has only just been disclosed as Britain moves towards the withdrawal of all combat soldiers by the end of the year.

Lt Col Richard Slack, commanding officer of 9/12 Royal Lancers, said the sniper stopped a major attack as a second suicide vest packed with 44lbs (20kg) of explosives was found nearby.

Lt Col Slack said: “The guy was wearing a vest. He was identified by the sniper moving down a tree line and coming up over a ditch.

“He had a shawl on. It rose up and the sniper saw he had a machine gun.

“They were in contact and he was moving to a firing position. The sniper engaged him and the guy exploded.

“There was a pause on the radio and the sniper said, ‘I think I’ve just shot a suicide bomber’. The rest of them were killed in the blast.”

The number of gun battles between British forces and Taliban has reduced recently.

A total of 448 UK soldiers have died since 2001 but fewer have been injured in the most recent tour as Afghan forces now lead 97% of security operations across the country."

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Achievement Unlocked?

Good man. If only a single bullet could deal with the rest of these numptys.

Yep, achievement unlocked.

It's great that he prevented the attack but do things like this really need to be celebrated?

It's hard to pull these things off in video games, let alone in real life. He definitely deserves bragging rights for this.

@deeliman: But that's the thing; like you said, this wasn't a video game, and glorification of war in any capacity, in my opinion and without wanting to offend anyone, is stupid. Who the hell would want to brag about killing people?

I have no sympathy towards terrorists.

@deeliman: Me neither, but I do have sympathy towards the people who are forced to end another human life because terrorists exist and nothing in that situation is worth celebrating.

It's surprising to me how so many people (not referring to you; don't know you well enough to have an opinion about you) look at war but see none of it. It's all "Go (insert country name here)! Kill them all!" and "Those Marine guys are so cool!" and they seem to miss the point that this shit is actually happening in the real world, to real people with real families.

Probably using an aim bot?

Most sane people hate war (maybe a few corrupt executives of companies dealing with defense like it for the purpose of profits but that is a different story unrelated to this). However, if we have to go to war we will do our best to do it better than the guy we are fighting.

Celebrating actions like what this lance corporal did gives motivation to his peers and his countrymen at home. Motivation goes a long way in pushing you to accomplish the mission, which is the main reason almost every military in the world rewards their troops with awards for bravery. Think of it like achievements in real life.

If one is a pacifist and wants nothing to do with war or understanding the ins and outs of it I can see people like that totally disregarding things like this. But for his fellow troops in Afghanistan, he may have saved some of their lives and that is all they care about.

“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.”

― George S. Patton Jr.

These marines aren't really forced to to anything, they voluntarily joined the army, so they knew what they were signing up for. And I'm not saying that war or killing people is cool in the slightest. War is an ugly business.

@ad1x2: I agree with everything you said, but this is not world news, this is not a military base, this is not the frontlines. This is a game website, how will this improve the troops morale better than somewhere else?

True but you don't become a firefighter because you like seeing things burn. You become a firefighter so that they don't, and messy business, especially where lives are at stake scars you, whether you are a volunteer or not; that's all I'm trying to say =)

Several people who post here are either in or used to be in the military. Also, we post all kinds of different stories in OT ranging from the latest shenanigans of Justin Bieber to political subjects that get people riled up. It doesn't hurt to post a story about a Marine killing off a few insurgents, especially when he did it in such a way that one would assume came out of a Call of Duty title.

If a person is offended by killing they have the option to pass right by the thread. I do it all the time when people post threads that aren't against the TOU but make me frown and shake my head.

@ad1x2: Somehow I doubt GS is the first stop for anyone searching for military news =P In any case I never said this can't/shouldn't be allowed/posted here, I merely expressed my opinion about it, particularly with this being a gaming site I feel that even if you feel this is an accomplishment reducing it to your usual gaming "BOOM! Headshot!", or "Achievement Unlocked" diminishes it. I mean, even you who seem to be level headed enough to give my post a serious reply said "see it as achievements in real life"; achievements DO happen in real life, no need for a gaming parallel, you just don't get "RL score" =P

But I digress, English is not my native language and I'm struggling with trying to convey my point so I'll just let you guys carry on.

@SolidSnake35: nope, just the superior m+kb combination.

I agree with that, I find it very dubious...

*Deep announcer voice*

Collateral!

The bravery of being out of range!

Makes a change from everyone making out people fighting the Taliban are bad and should be dammed. They are of course fighting the people who quite happily chop up a civilian and chant ooga booga crap in celebration (because attacking civilians is apparently really heroic to them).

Dude deserves money for this. Lost and lost of money.

April Fools?

Story seems a bit inconsistent if you ask me. Says he hit the bombs trigger switch in the beginning, but the actual description of the events in the article say that he simply engaged and fired upon the bomber, who then exploded. He still managed to kill 6 guys with one shot, but odds are the act of being shot caused the bomber to explode, not the sniper hitting his switch.

Maybe he was aiming for the red barrel next to them.

Conveniently placed barrel.

Believe it or not people die easier in real life especially those Taliban bastards who don't wear any kind of armor. Still it was a good shot. I can imagine the smile on his face after he landed the shot. LOL.

finally! the military is being a little economical with the tax dollars.

Considering that he potentially saved dozens of lives with such an impressive shot, yes, I'd say that warrants some praise.

@Korvus85: Human nature as it is....war is inevitable. It's as much a fact of life as taxes. The dude had skill....nothing wrong with saying he did. If he killed those individuals with a bullet each....we wouldn't be having this conversation...but they'd still be dead.

@LJS9502_basic: Don't 6 shots require more skill than one? According to the article the whole thing was just a big (lucky) coincidence.

He is going to get so much pussy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cq7esK2iyo

sounds like Max Payne 3 trophy

Out The Window

Get 6 Kills While Diving Through The VIP Window [FREE AIM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sjuxEVLeKc

Should have been narrated by Andres Cantor.

British Army, be the BEST!

War is different. You get medals for killing, I thought this was general knowledge?

Looks like Archangel's moved his base of operations.

Lol, reported because of hax.

i thought the sniper had managed to grasp the moment in which they had been standing in a row and passed a single bullet through them all. lol.

For a sniper taking six shots instead of one is the worst thing you can do. As soon as the first goes and you take another your position is highly likely to be spotted.

@o0squishy0o: Oh absolutely, it was kind of a joke on my part. I meant that killing 6 with one shot (especially when the other 5 were lucky collateral) is easier than a sniper killing 6 in a group with 6 shots for the reason you mentioned =P

Exactly what i wanted to say LOL

More skill? Do you think it's easy to hit multiple targets with one bullet? One on one shots are much easier.