Two British Islamic State jihadists who died in Syria were killed by an RAF drone strike, David Cameron has said.
Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan, 21, and Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, died last month in Raqqa, alongside another fighter, in the first targeted UK drone attack on a British citizen, Mr Cameron told MPs.
Khan - the target - had been plotting "barbaric" attacks on UK soil, he said.
The "act of self defence" was lawful, despite MPs previously ruling out UK military action in Syria, the PM said.
Khan was killed in a precision strike on 21 August by a remotely piloted aircraft, "after meticulous planning", while he was travelling in a vehicle.
Another British national, Junaid Hussain, 21 and from Birmingham, was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August.Image copyrightUnknownImage captionJunaid Hussain, who referred to himself as Abu Hussain Al Britani, was described as a "top cyber jihadist"
Both Khan and Hussain had been involved in actively recruiting IS "sympathisers" and plotting to attack "high-profile public commemorations" taking place in the UK this summer, the prime minister said.
The attorney general had been consulted and agreed there was a "clear legal basis" for the strike on Khan, Mr Cameron added.
Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman urged the government to publish the legal advice.
The "act of self defence" was lawful, despite MPs previously ruling out UK military action in Syria, the PM said.
Khan was killed in a precision strike on 21 August by a remotely piloted aircraft, "after meticulous planning", while he was travelling in a vehicle.
Another British national, Junaid Hussain, 21 and from Birmingham, was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August.Image copyrightUnknownImage captionJunaid Hussain, who referred to himself as Abu Hussain Al Britani, was described as a "top cyber jihadist"
Both Khan and Hussain had been involved in actively recruiting IS "sympathisers" and plotting to attack "high-profile public commemorations" taking place in the UK this summer, the prime minister said.
The attorney general had been consulted and agreed there was a "clear legal basis" for the strike on Khan, Mr Cameron added.
Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman urged the government to publish the legal advice.
Downing Street said it was a "long-standing convention that we do not publish advice of the law officers".
'Directing murder'
Two years ago MPs rejected possible UK military action in Syria, but last September approved British participation in air strikes against IS targets in Iraq only.
However, officials said the UK would "act immediately [in Syria] and explain to Parliament afterwards" if there was "a critical British national interest at stake".
The strike on Khan was "the first time in modern times that a British asset has been used to conduct a strike in a country where we're not involved in a war", the PM confirmed.
"Of course Britain has used remotely piloted aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan but this is a new departure and that's why I thought it important to come to the House and explain why I think it is necessary and justified."
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