RAF top guns obliterate ISIS terror HQ in Iraq that used to be one of Saddam’s plush pads
Massive air strike took place on the palace after surveillance had revealed ISIS was occupying it in the stronghold of Mosul
RAF Tornado jets have blitzed one of Saddam Hussein's old palaces that was being used as an Islamic State HQ.
The jets used the 2,000lbs "Bunker Buster" bombs to smash the terrorist base in Iraq.
A massive air strike took place on the palace after surveillance had revealed ISIS was occupying it.
The sprawling palace complex, built by former dictator Hussein, sat in a secure compound close to the river Tigris in the Islamist organisation's stronghold of Mosul.
A main building had been used as a meeting centre and accommodation for the terrorists before it was annihilated by the pair of Tornados on Monday afternoon.
Other buildings provided bases for command and control, training and internal security.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: “Daesh has been losing followers and territory for months, and emphatic strikes like this show that we and the coalition will not waver.
"Daesh fighters, both foreign and home grown, can see that they are targets inside this cult.”
Tornado bombers flying from their base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, used the special laser-guided Enhanced Paveway III bombs - a whopping 4.39m long - to hit the HQ.
The jets usually carry Paveway IV and Brimstone warheads in their aerial arsenal for backing ground troops but use the Bunker Buster bombs on specialist missions.
They are perfect for demolishing buried bunkers with a warhead so powerful it can breach the strongest protection.
We revealed how they were first used in April to smash a hillside IS barracks complex in Iraq.
The Tornados were joined by coalition partners for the strike in their sixth day in a week of targeting ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Eight days ago RAF Typhoons hit an ISIS mortar position in northern Iraq with laser-guided bombs before bombing a terrorist safe house in the same area the next day.
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They also destroyed two strongholds for the terrorist army in Syria close to the Turkish border last Wednesday.
On Thursday Reaper drones struck four times with Hellfire missiles against several groups of ISIS fighters before assisting coalition jets.
And in Iraq Brimstone-armed Tornados destroyed a mortar near Qayyarah while two Typhoons used Paveway IV bombs to hit a bunker on the shores of Lake Qadisiyah.
Drones also came to the aid of ground forces advancing on the ISIS centre of Manbij in Syria on Saturday with two Hellfire missile attacks on ISIS fighters.
On Sunday Tornados patrolling near Qayyarah in Iraq used a laser-guided bomb to hit a band of terrorists in the open in support of Iraqi ground troops.
As well as hitting Hussein's former palace on Monday Typhoons used eight Paveway IV bombs to hit fortified ISIS positions to assist forces advancing on Manbij.