Why Snipers?

This is why.

A CRACKSHOT Scots squaddie has killed a feared Taliban warlord - from a mile away.

Corporal Christopher Reynolds shot the high profile Afghan drug baron dead during ferocious fighting, notching up the longest range confirmed kill in Afghanistan.

The 25-year-old waited on a shop rooftop in southern Afghanistan for three days to take out the top-level Taliban commander - called Musa - who co-ordinated dozens of attacks against British and US soldiers.

...I saw a group of five Taliban. I identified one straightaway as the commander because I watched him through the scope and when he spoke on the radio, the other one would do what he said.

"I saw that he had a weapon, an AK47. We did all the calculations for range, windspeed and all that. I have to admit the first round landed next to him. We were so far away that he didn't even realise he was being shot at.

"We changed our aim and when I took into account different factors like the trajectory of the bullet, my gun scope was actually aiming at the top of a doorway. I fired and the bullet went off, coming down and hitting him in the chest.

"He dropped straight away into the arms of a fighter behind him.

In the same press account, another Scottie took out a Taliban sniper with a missile. Only half a mile, but the sniper was behind a small hole in a wall. The wall is intact, by the way. The hole is slightly larger now.

HT: Headless