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Afghanistan Taliban uses drone to film suicide attack

The Afghan Taliban has released an aerial footage of a suicide car bombing in southern Helmand province, marking the first time the group has used a drone to record an attack.

The 23-minute video shows a suicide bomber ramming a Humvee into a military base in volatile Nawa district, triggering a cloud of flames and smoke and razing the entire compound. With pro-Taliban poems playing in the background, the video reported on Tuesday by the US-based SITE Intelligence group shows a turban-clad bomber in front of a Humvee, hugging fellow fighters before he departs. 

The camera mounted on a drone shows a birds-eye view of the target, tracking his Humvee as it strikes the base, causing a massive explosion. The video, which could not be independently verified, is the first drone footage released by the Taliban. The Afghan defense ministry in a statement rejected it as a “propaganda”. The Taliban already has a robust social media presence and a website in five languages including English.

Once seen as uneducated thugs, the Taliban has developed a media-savvy PR team who use digital technology to reach out to audiences worldwide. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, almost all electronic products were outlawed as un-Islamic. 

But the Taliban has avidly embraced electronic communication and social media in recent years as a recruitment tool and to promote their propaganda.  
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