A bird fitted with a bomb vest, surveillance camera and GPS tracker was shot dead as it walked along a highway in Afghanistan this weekend — and authorities think the Taliban were behind the suicide mission.The terrorists’ do-it-yourself drone appears to be a mysterious white and brown bird no bigger than an eagle, according to Afghan police.
It was spotted in the war-torn region of northern Faryab province Saturday after cops noticed an antenna attached to its body, NBC News reports.
Officers grew suspicious of the fowl and decided to shoot it while they had the chance. The bird exploded and “suspicious metal stuff” was sent flying in every direction, police said.
Authorities now believe the aerial assassin could have been “deployed” on a surveillance mission by the Taliban, according to NBC. Police added that the bird was not native to the area and appeared larger than an eagle.
“We are gathering all the stuff, but found parts of what looks to be GPS and a small camera,” said provincial police chief Maj. Gen. Abdul Nabi Ilham.
Animals have been used on the battlefield in the past and have aided humans in ways that cannot be matched by technological devices.
Since the 1960s, the US Navy has trained California sea lions and bottle-nose dolphins to detect underwater mines and find nearby intruders in murky water, according to National Geographic.
Over the summer, Hamas fighters used a donkey as a suicide bomber, the Washington Post reports.
The militants loaded the animal up with explosives and pushed it toward a group of Israeli soldiers, but it exploded without injuring anyone.
Source: New York Post