SAS and US special forces forming hunter killer unit to 'smash Islamic State'

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Elite British and US special forces troops are forming a hunter killer unit called Task Force Black – its orders: “Smash the Islamic State.”

The undercover warriors will aim to “cut the head off the snake” by hitting the command structure of the Islamist terror group responsible for a trail of atrocities across Iraq and Syria, reports the Sunday People.

PM David Cameron has told the SAS and UK spy agencies to direct all their ­resources at defeating IS after a video of US journalist James Foley being beheaded shocked the world.

British special forces will work with America’s Delta Force and Seal Team 6. The move sees a rebirth of top secret Task Force Black, which helped defeat al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq .

This time the counter-terrorist ­experts will be targeting Abu Bakr ­al-Baghdadi, leader of IS and now the world’s most wanted terrorist.

A source said: “We need to go into Syria and Iraq and kill as many IS members as we can. You can’t ­negotiate with these people.

“This is not a war of choice. They are cash rich and have a plentiful ­supply of arms. If we don’t go after them, they will soon come after us.

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In Iraq, Task Force Black was carrying out strike operations every night.

"It was an unrelenting, intelligence-led assault on al-Qaeda. It took a lot of hard work and no small amount of sacrifice – but it worked.

“Defeating IS cannot be done by air strikes alone. You have to get on the ground and take out the commanders – cut off the snake’s head.

“The organisation will then begin to collapse. IS targets civilians and has yet to get into a real fight with a ­modern Western military.

“The SAS and US special forces will do untold damage to them.

“They’ll focus on the high command. This is going to be a long campaign, probably lasting years.

“And it will be like nothing the West has ever had to confront before.”

The new task force will comprise a squadron of the SAS, special forces aircrews from the RAF and agents from MI5 and MI6.

The operation will be led by America’s CIA spy agency.

One of the first jobs will be to identify the British Muslim shown on an IS video released last week apparently cutting Foley’s head off with a knife.

UK intelligence sources confirmed that the killer, believed to be a British-born Pakistani from London, is already at the top of a CIA “kill list”.

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