BERLIN
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants have the capability to hit passenger planes, according to intelligence reported in a German newspaper.
Bild am Sonntag claimed that ISIL has portable anti-aircraft weapons, known as MANPADS, which pose a threat to airliners passing through Middle Eastern air space.
ISIL can target planes flying over northern Iraq, according to a report which Bild am Sonntag gathered from a briefing by the German Federal Intelligence Service to German MPs.
The intelligence service supposes that the anti-aircraft weapons were taken from Syrian army arsenals and can be used to hit planes while they take off or land.
ISIL is fighting on various fronts, from pushing forward into Baghdad to conducting an offensive against Syrian Kurds near the Turkish border in Kobani.
They have already taken control of large swathes of territories in Iraq and Syria.
A wide range of heavy weaponry formerly owned by the Iraqi army also fell into the hands of ISIL when they captured Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, after a stunning offensive forced the army to retreat.
www.aa.com.tr/en
