A video reportedly released by ISIL appears to feature militants showing off US-made M16 assault rifles, according to US-based security firm Flashpoint Intelligence.
NBC reported that the video (no longer available online) shows more than a dozen ISIL fighters in northern Iraq using the rifles for weapons training.
Flashpoint said in a research note that the use of American rifles by ISIL militants is rare, and only seen in Iraq. The weapons were “likely left by US forces or seized from Iraqi soldiers,” it said.
ISIL has apparently bragged about using US-made weapons and military equipment in the past, including when it likely seized a cache of ammunition, grenades and grenade-launchers meant for Kurdish fighters in Syria in Oct. 2014. Iraqi authorities said earlier this year that they lost 2,300 Humvees to ISIL when they were retreating from Mosul.