Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A cruel dad has been condemned after astonishing footage emerged of him shooting a cigarette out of his son’s mouth with a Kalashnikov rifle.

The clip – filmed in southern Iraq – has outranged social media users who urged local police to take action.

According to reports, the unnamed father – from the governorate of Al Muthanna – told his son to hold the cigarette in his mouth to use as a target so he could show off his sniping skills.

In the footage, the boy is seen standing in front of the camera with his chin raised and the cigarette thrust up into the sky from his mouth.

Meanwhile, his dad walks towards the far end of the courtyard with a rifle in his hand before taking a sitting position on the ground.

He takes aim as his son tries to remain as still as possible before pulling the trigger.

The stunned youngster flinches at the noise and then removes the ciggie from his mouth, showing it to the camera before his dad brags about his accuracy.

After the video was widely shared on social media, social media users expressed their anger and called on local authorities to take action, with some claiming it should be treated as attempted murder.

Online users also said that young children should never be used in such dangerous experiments.

It is unclear if the local authorities plan to take action against the father.