ISIS has executed a British jihadi who had previously been fighting for the terror group in Tal Afar, 40 miles west of Mosul.

Iraqi army sources claimed the Briton was lined up in the town's centre along with eight others - including a Russian, Turk and some Syrians.

An unverified photograph posted on an Iraqi news website showed four blindfolded men handcuffed and kneeling on the ground with a group of heavily-armed gunmen standing behind them.

ISIS has executed a British jihadi in an outlying area of Mosul as the terror group is being pushed by by Iraqi forces, pictured, looking to retake the strategic northern city

Civilians have been fleeing the area Iraqi troops advance on the terror group's stronghold

According to Bas News, nine men were killed by the terror group although the reason for their execution has not been disclosed.

Captain Idris al-Hamdani claimed the nine men executed were leading members of ISIS in Iraq.

He said locals in Tal Afar reported the executions to security services and said ISIS in Tal Afar and Mosul is severely divided.

Al-Hamdani added: 'These executions and splits come against the background of the successive defeats of the organisation's militants in areas west of Mosul.'

Inside Mosul - which has been the terror group's stronghold in Iraq, the jihadis are being forced back into smaller pockets by government troops backed by US air strikes.

Iraqi army sources suggest ISIS in Mosul is being riven by division as a result of their defeat

Jihadis have blocked an area around the al-Nuri mosque in the Old City. It is the location where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only known public appearance back in 2014.

ISIS has forced residents living near the mosque from their homes so they can defend the mosque, where al-Baghdadi decalred his 'caliphate'.

One resident, still living in the city told the Associated Press: 'The militants are not moving in groups anymore, we see one or two from time to time in the streets as a majority of them are moving through the houses, using the holes they made in the walls.

According to U.N. estimates, more than 100,000 people are still trapped in their houses in IS-held areas. Mosul's Old City is an ancient district of narrow alleyways and tightly packed homes, two main challenges to security forces.

He added: 'We are dying slowly with no water and no food.'

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Army has banned the burqa in areas under its control in Mosul after ISIS jihadis used the garment to carry out suicide attacks.

Residents have been told headscarves and niqabs are also banned temporarily as Iraqi troops go house-to-house to flush out the remaining terrorists.