A crack SAS sniper killed an ISIS leader and his henchmen moments before they were set to burn 12 hostages to death.

The expert British special forces marksman was almost a mile away when he gunned down the feared ISIS executioner and three others as they were set to turn a flamethrower on the civilians who were accused of being spies. The SAS sniper fired a single round from his high calibre .50 Barrett rifle at the fuel tank of the executioner's flamethrower, causing it to explode, incinerating him and three other ISIS members who were poised ready to film the killing of the civilians. A source told the Daily Star Sunday that it was part of a rescue operation near Raqqa in Syria earlier this month. The so-called ISIS executioner who was killed in the mission is said to have been on a US 'kill list' for months because of his brutal method of killing prisoners with his flamethrower, burning them alive.

The source told the newspaper:

“The SAS team moved into an overwatch position above a village where they were told the execution was going to take place.

“Up to 12 civilians were going to be murdered – eight men and four women. They were suspected of being spies.

“The executioner gave some sort of rambling speech over a loud hailer then when he finished the SAS sniper opened fire."

It's not the first time the expert marksmen of the SAS have saved lives with some incredible shooting.

A British special forces sniper took out two ISIS car bombers with a single shot as they drove towards a target in Libya, according to the Mail.

The sharpshooter hit the driver of the vehicle in the head from a range of 1,000m and the bullet lodged in the neck of his accomplice who was sitting next to him in the passenger side of the vehicle.

The sniper potentially saved hundreds of lives as the jihadis were transporting the massive car bomb to a busy market in Tripoli where they planned to detonate it.

Earlier this year an SAS shooter notched a triple kill with a single round through a 10-inch wall from around 1km away. Militants were holed up in a heavily fortified tower in the Iraqi town of Ramadi. But the SAS sniper managed to take out three ISIS members with a single armour-piercing round from his .50 Barrett. Military chiefs said the incredible shot avoided the need for airstrikes and potentially saved 20 lives in the process. This article was originally posted on JOE.co.uk