London, Dec 2 (IANS) Terror outfit Al Qaeda is now training a group of snipers for a new wave of attacks on British and US troops in Afghanistan, a media report said Friday.
A group of ‘marksmen in camouflage suits’ has been filmed at a remote camp on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and the footage put on extremist websites, The Sun reported.
While the new recruits are seen firing high-powered long-range rifles, a narrator comments that the weapon of choice is the ‘fearsome’ Russian-designed Dragunov SVD 7.62 semi-automatic, which can get an accurate shot up to 1.3 km.
A close-up of the rifle is also shown in the video. It can reportedly fire ‘armour-piercing’ ammunition, the daily said.
British terrorism expert and author Neil Doyle said: ‘It is a recruitment film designed to persuade jihadists to join them and participate in attacks. Al Qaeda is trying to demonstrate that it remains a major international threat.’
Lieutenant-General James Bucknall, the British military commander in Afghanistan, said he expected the Taliban and their terrorist allies to strike back.
‘They tried very hard to mount a major summer offensive and failed. So they will work very hard through the winter to regenerate momentum,’ he said.
There are around 9,500 British troops in Afghnaistan.
