A series of boastful tweets by Islamic State fighters helped the US military to destroy a command centre that lies at the heart of the jihadists’ social media operation.
Messages were picked up by a Florida-based US air force monitoring group, which used them to help direct jets towards the target within 22 hours of the messages being sent.
Fighter aircraft dropped three joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs), which destroyed the building. Its location was not disclosed.
“[We went from] a post on social media to bombs on target within less than 24 hours,” said General Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, head