Special to WorldTribune.com

The social media savvy of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) has been widely reported on, but it was a social media blunder, in the form of a selfie, that got one of the terror group’s secret strongholds blown to smithereens.

Air Force Gen. Hawk Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, told Defense Tech on June 1 that airmen with the 361st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group at Florida’s Hurlburt Field noticed the social media post that led to the bombing that destroyed an ISIL headquarters building in Iraq.

“It went from a post on social media to bombs on target in less than 24 hours,” Carlisle said. “Incredible work when you think about.”

Carlisle related the story at a recent meeting in Washington hosted by the Air Force Association.

“The guys that were working down out of Hurlburt, they’re combing through social media and they see some moron standing at this command. And in some social media, open forum, bragging about the command and control capabilities for Daesh, ISIL. And these guys go: ‘We got an in.’ So they do some work, long story short, about 22 hours later through that very building, three [Joint Direct Attack Munitions] take that entire building out.”

  Gen. Hawk Carlisle, social media, U.S. Air Force, U.S. bombs ISIL headquarters after ‘moron’ terrorist posts selfie, WorldTribune.com