New data reveals Jihadi group has lost a QUARTER of its territory as troops prepare for assault on Mosul

ISLAMIC State has suffered ";unprecedented" territorial losses over the past 19 months, a new report has revealed.

More than 25 per cent of the land taken over by militants in Iraq and Syria has been lost - meaning ISIS now only controls an area the size of Sri Lanka.

Data released by security analysts IHS showed the terror group's controlled land has shrunk from 90,800sq km (56,400sq miles) in January 2015 to 65,500 sq km as of October 3 this year.

Despite "strategically significant" losses in northern Aleppo, analysts say they have slowed since July.

It follows an extensive assault on ISIS's last major stronghold in Iraq, Mosul.

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Militants are now said to be planning to reclaim Mosul in the next 10 days - sparking fears of a "humanitarian disaster".

Columb Strack, senior analyst and head of the IHS Conflict Monitor, said: "The Islamic State's territorial losses since July are relatively modest in scale, but unprecedented in their strategic significance.

"The loss of direct road access to cross-border smuggling routes into Turkey severely restricts the group's ability to recruit new fighters from abroad, while the Iraqi government is poised to launch its offensive on Mosul."

Hundreds of British troops are being sent to Iraq carrying gas masks and nuclear warfare clothing in a bid to protect themselves against a chemical attack by Islamic State.

The 250 soldiers from 4 Rifles battalion are on a new training mission.

They are heading to one of the most dangerous areas in the country, the Al Asad air base in Balad, to coach Iraq’s 7th Infantry Division.

Up to 19,000 Iraqi troops have gathered at Qaiyara Airfield West, south of Mosul, ahead of a planned attack by Iraq's counter-terrorism service.

In preparation, US bombers and drones have been on a killing spree in the past few weeks.

A US military official says 13 Isis leaders in the city were killed in the past month.