SAS snipers gun down ISIS militants preparing to execute Christian family

A Christian family of eight were saved from certain death when SAS snipers gunned down the Islamic State militants who were preparing to execute them.

According to a report from Daily Star, two SAS snipers shot dead two militants who were holding knives at the throats of a Christian father and son who refused to renounce their faith.

The operation took place after a joint SAS and Peshmerga patrol was warned that ISIS fighters were murdering Christian families. Daily Star noted that the incident occurred in July, but the details were only released last week.

The SAS had been carrying out mopping up operations following the liberation of Mosul when residents of a Christian village told them that black-clad death squad of Islamic extremists was executing civilians nearby.

The executioners were reportedly seconds away from killing the Christians when the SAS patrol commander ordered two snipers to open fire.

Using L115 sniper rifles loaded with .338 Lapua Magnum bullets, the marksmen took down two executioners who died instantly. The snipers then turned their weapons on another pair of ISIS militants, causing the jihadis to panic.

The terrorists tried to flee in a truck, but they were killed in a firefight that lasted about half an hour.

"It was a chance encounter. The SAS patrol just happened to be in the right place at the right time," a source told the Daily Star on Sunday.

"The killers were moving around the area executing villagers. Muslim families were accused of being spies and Christians who refused to convert to Islam were beheaded," the source continued.

The Christian family was rescued and given safe passage out of the area before another 80 ISIS militants came to collect the fallen fighters.

"The Peshmerga fighters rescued the family and gave them safe passage out of the area," the source stated.

ISIS's self-declared caliphate effectively collapsed after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces liberated Mosul back in July following a grueling nine-month battle.

Following the terror group's defeat in Mosul, the only area still under its control in Iraq is a stretch alongside the western border with Syria, where the jihadists were also in retreat.

Earlier this week, U.S.-backed forces fighting the terror group in the Syrian city of Raqqa have announced that "major military operations" in the city have ended, declaring that the jihadists have lost control of their self-declared capital.

"Major military operations in Raqqa are finished but they are now clearing the city of sleeper cells -- if they exist -- and mines," said Talal Salo, spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

"The situation in Raqqa is under control and soon there will be an official statement declaring the liberation of the city," the spokesman added.