British special forces troops are “freaking out” Islamic State fighters by blasting Bollywood music at them.
The psychological warfare strategy is aimed at discrediting the extremists who claim the music is “apostasy” or un-Islamic.
They came up with the idea after a Pakistani-born army intelligence officer with the British Army told troops Bollywood tunes would annoy ISIS.
Bollywood tunes are often referred to as Hindi film songs as they come from northern India and are also followed in neighbouring Pakistan.
British troops are training local forces in how to push out IS, but they are there in a non-combat role only, except if attacked.
The psychological operations unit, which is part of a force known as Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), intercepted the insurgents’ communications and blasted them with Bollywood chart music.
“We needed to unnerve militants and at the same time use some sort of passive measure to gauge their force strength in the area we are working and it went well,” a senior source said.
The militants have imposed ‘Sharia’ law inside Sirte and have banned anything western or frivolous and the Bollywood songs are seen as a huge insult.
Apart from psychologically dominating the terrorist organisation, the move reveals the militants’ reaction time in getting to the source of the music and in how much force, revealing their weak points to watching troops.
It also serves to discredit the gunmen with locals as it shows defiance and contempt for their regime.
Courtesy: Mirror