My new hero...

British sniper Craig Harrison (The Silent Assassin) breaks record, kills target from 1.5 miles away
BY MICHAEL SHERIDAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, May 3rd 2010, 1:28 PM

Corporal of Horse Craig Harrison, a British Army sniper, now holds the record for the farthest shot (1.5 miles), which took down two Taliban gunmenn in Afghanistan.



A British soldier dubbed the Silent Assassin has broken a distance record after taking down two targets from a mile and a half away.

Corporal of Horse Craig Harrison, a British Army sniper, killed two Taliban machine gunners in Afghanistan from a distance of 8,120 feet, Sky News reported.

"The first round hit a machine gunner in the stomach and killed him outright. He went straight down and didn't move," the 35-year-old said of the incident, which took place in November 2009.

"The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too. They were both dead."

Harrison was nearly 3,000 feet beyond the effective range of his British-built L115A3 Long Range Rifle.

The powerful weapon is reportedly only effective up to 4,921 feet, the Daily Mail reported, which is less than a mile.

"Conditions were perfect, no wind, mild weather, clear visibility," Harrison said, according to Sky News.

The father of one child from Gloucestershire in Southwest England pulled off the impressive shots while protecting his commanding officer and several Afghan soldiers, who were on patrol when they were attacked in the Helmand Province.

The sniper's shots broke a record previously held by Cpl. Rob Furlong, a Canadian Forces soldier, who in 2005 killed an Al Qaeda gunman from about 7,972 feet away.

Sgt. Brian Kremer of the United States Army held the record in 2004 with a shot in Iraq that struck its target from about 7,545 feet.

Story link: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/05/03/2010-05-03_british_sniper_craig_harrison_the_silent_assassin_breaks_record_kills_target_fro.html#ixzz0nBdUR9gF