Some claim the age-old expression “kill two birds with one stone” originated in China, from the saying “yi shi er niao”, which translated to English means “one stone two birds”. There’s also one very similar, it too from the Far East, “yi jian shuang diao”: “one arrow double vultures”.

Others refute the prior genesis and stand firm that it stems from Greek mythology and the story about Daedalus and his son Icarus being held captive in a high tower, surrounded by large birds.

Both of those threads, however, are either ancient history, or glorified baloney, and pale in comparison to this recent story out of Iraq, where an SAS sniper (“Special Air Service” — a prestigious British special forces unit) murdered five ISIS (Islamic State, IS, ISIL, Daesh) militants with just three little bullets from his high-powered rifle during a wild “shootout” amid the war-torn landscape.

The sharp shooter most likely saved the lives of hundreds of people in the region — the jihadis he executed were about to launch a suicide bomb attack.

This from the Daily Mail:

The sniper was given the go-ahead after the men were spotted leaving the bomb factory wearing heavy coats in hot weather – a sign they were trying to hide their suicide vests.

They were on their way to carry out a terror attack at a nearby town, in which they planned to detonate their suicide vests amongst hundreds of civilians – causing mass deaths.

However, the SAS veteran wiped out all three of the extremists, as well as two ‘guards’ who were supposedly in place to keep a look-out and protect them from military forces.

The sniper shot the first jihadi in the chest as he walked out of the factory, which caused his suicide vest to detonate, killing him instantly – as well as two ISIS ‘guards’ who were sat in a nearby car.

The second ISIS militant was wiped out by a shot to the head, while the third was also killed when the sniper’s bullet struck his suicide vest and caused it to detonate.

According the British military, the successful mission was a result of incredibly accurate information obtained by the European country’s savvy intelligence personnel. It took place less than 10 miles from Mosul, a city currently occupied by ISIS.