world

Updated: Jun 23, 2017 16:09 IST

A Canadian sniper has shattered the world record for a confirmed kill shot, firing from a staggering distance of 3,540 metres.

The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed on Thursday that a member of its Joint Task Force 2 — the country’s elite special forces — made the record-breaking shot, killing an Islamic State militant in Iraq within the last month.

“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 military said in a statement to Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper.

The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data.

The sniper worked in tandem with an observer, who helps to spot targets, and used a standard Canadian military issued McMillan TAC-50 rifle, according to BBC. He shot the target from a high rise, and it took the bullet around 10 seconds to hit the militant.

A military source told the newspaper that the shot required the shooter to account for wind, ballistics and the Earth’s curvature.

“You have to adjust for him firing from a higher location downward and as the round drops you have to account for that. And from that distance you actually have to account for the curvature of the Earth,” the military source was quoted by Globe and Mail as saying.

The previous world record was held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who shot a Taliban gunner in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province from 2,475 metres in 2009, using a 338 Lapua Magnum rifle.

Proud history

The history of snipers in the Canadian military goes back many years, and many of its soldiers have held the record for the longest kill shot.

Francis Pegahmagabow of the 1st Canadian Infantry Battalion, was the deadliest sniper of the First World War, with a record of 378 kills and is one of the country’s most decorated soldiers.

More recently, Corporal Rob Furlong shot a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2002 from a distance of 2,430 metres. He broke the record set just a few days earlier by another Canadian, master corporal Aaron Perry, who shot an insurgent from a distance of 2,286 metres.

Mark Zuehlke, who has written extensively on Canada’s military history, said the best snipers were “country boys who knew how to hunt”.

“They knew how to handle a gun and handle a gun well,” he was quoted by CBC as saying.