British forces 'freaking out' ISIS by blasting Bollywood music

British forces 'freaking out' ISIS by blasting Bollywood music

British special forces troops in Libya have turned to an unlikely weapon in its fight against Islamic State fighters - Bollywood music.

The troops are blasting the music at enemy fighters, who consider the music un-Islamic, as a form of psychological warfare.

The Mirror in Britain reported that the troops came up with the idea after a Pakistani-born British army intelligence officer said that the tunes would annoy Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters.

It said that the psychological operations unit of the Joint Special Operations Command had intercepted the insurgent's communications and blasted them with Bollywood chart music. British troops are training local forces in Libya, and are there in a non-combat role, it said.

In another incident, the team left two cars near checkpoints on the edge of an ISIS-occupied town and blasted Bollywood music through two huge speakers in the cars by remote control at dawn.

The Mirror said that the move is "freaking out" enemy fighters. It also aims to discredit ISIS with locals, by showing up the insurgents' fragile control of the area.

An army source told The Mirror: "We needed to unnerve militants and at the same time use some sort of passive measure to gauge their force strength in the area we are working and it went well."

The move revealed ISIS' weak points to the watching troop, who observed the number of insurgents and their reaction time to get to the source of the music.

The Mirror reported that Libya's troops have been training for an assault against more than 4,000 ISIS insurgents, who have held the coastal town of Sirte for 20 months.

sinsh@sph.com.sg

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