The Canadian military has claimed that one of their special forces snipers shot and killed an Isis fighter from a world record-breaking distance of 2.1 miles (3,540m).

The shot would be the longest ever confirmed kill and was said to have taken place in Iraq last month where western and Iraqi Army snipers are battling their Isis counterparts.

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It was reported that the shot took 10 seconds to arrive at its target with the marksman having to factor in wind, ballistics, and even the Earth's curvature.

Sources from within the Canadian military told Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper that the shooter was a member of the elite Joint Task Force 2.

"The Canadian Special Operations Command can confirm that a member of Joint Task Force 2 successfully hit a target at 3,540 metres," the forces said in a statement.

"For operational security reasons and to preserve the safety of our personnel and our Coalition partners we will not discuss precise details on when and how this incident took place."

The kill was said to have been made using a McMillan TAC-50 rifle from a high-rise building and independently verified by video camera and other data from nearby.

"The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [so-called Islamic State] attack on Iraqi security forces," a military source said.

"Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far away, the bad guys didn't have a clue what was happening."

Mosul
File photo: A sniper member of the Iraqi forces, consisting of the Iraqi federal police and the elite Rapid Response Division, takes aim during their advance in the Old City in western Mosul Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP

The previous long-distance kill record was held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who gunned down a Taliban attacker from 2,475 metres in 2009 using a 338 Lapua Magnum rifle.

Last year Canada's Liberal Party Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to halt air strikes against Isis inside their Iraqi fiefdom.

However, Trudeau did announce plans to treble the number of special forces on the ground which are tasked with training and assisting local forces, such as the Iraqi Army and associated militias.

Isis ISIL Mosul Iraq