Canadian sniper breaks world record for longest confirmed kill shot in history

Member of the elite Special Forces unit, Joint Task Force 2, kills an Isis insurgent from 3,450 metres (2.1 miles)

A sniper fires at targets during clashes with Islamic State group fighters in Mosul (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

A Canadian sniper in Iraq has broken the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in history.

A member of the elite Special Forces unit, Joint Task Force 2, who has not been named, killed an Isis insurgent from 3,450 metres (2.1 miles) away.

The shot broke the previous record, held by Craig Harrison, a member of the British armed forces, by almost 1000 metres.

It took just under ten seconds for the bullet to hit the target and was fired from an elevated position.

The distance, the strength of the wind and the curvature of the Earth were all factors the sniper had to take into consideration when firing.

"The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [Isis] attack on Iraqi security forces,” a military source told the Globe and Mail.

"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 way, the bad guys didn't have a clue what was happening," the source added.

The shot has been verified by a video camera and a separate military source was adamant the distance was not an estimate.

"Hard data on this. It isn't an opinion. It isn't an approximation. There is a second location with eyes on with all the right equipment to capture exactly what the shot was," the military source said.