Etudient,
"Given that the purported target has survived, with him and his daughter, who flew in from Russia, now held incommunicado by HMG, I frankly don't believe a word of the 'official' story."
You have no idea what the 'purported target' was! You have no idea what the ROE are. You have no idea what the concrete military advantage of the strike was. You have no idea of the level of military or political clearance of the strike was. You have no idea of the clearance process of hitting the target is. In fact, you have no idea at all, just like the rest of us not involved with the strike. Whether you believe the 'official story' is irrelevant. I've been retired from the targeting world for 10 years now and would never presume to know what is happening, but your inputs reveal a conspiracy theorist at work.