Mulcair raises red flags after Canadian sniper breaks record in Iraq
OTTAWA — NDP leader Tom Mulcair is forgoing the celebration and raising red flags following reports that a Canadian sniper in Iraq shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill.
In a letter Friday to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mulcair says the incident “seriously calls into question your government’s claim that Canadian forces are not involved in direct combat in Iraq.”
National Defence says the sniper is part of the Joint Task Force 2 special forces unit and was supporting Iraqi forces in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant when he shot an enemy fighter from 3,540 metres away.
That is more than a kilometre farther than the previous record, held by a British sniper who shot a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2009.