This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-36200410
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 1 | Version 2 |
---|---|
Australian IS recruiter Neil Prakash 'killed in Iraq' | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
An Australian man considered a senior recruiter for so-called Islamic State (IS) has been killed in a US air strike in Iraq, Australia's government says. | |
Attorney-General George Brandis said US officials had confirmed Neil Prakash was killed in Mosul on Friday. | |
Prakash, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, was linked to attack plots in Australia and had appeared in propaganda videos and magazines. | |
Some 110 Australians are estimated to be fighting for IS in the Middle East. | |
Convert | |
Using the acronym of the previous name of IS, Mr Brandis said that Prakash was a "prominent Isil member and a senior terrorist recruiter and attack facilitator". | |
"Prakash has been linked to several Australia-based attack plans and calls for lone-wolf attacks against the United States. | |
"He has appeared in Isil propaganda videos and magazines and has actively recruited Australian men, women and children, and encouraged acts of terrorism. | |
"His death disrupts and degrades Isil's ability to recruit vulnerable people in our community to conduct terrorist acts," Mr Brandis added. | |
Mr Brandis said the US had also confirmed that an Australian woman was killed in a separate air strike in Syria on 22 April. | |
The woman, Shadi Jabar Khalil Mohammad, was the sister of Farhad Jabar - the teenager who killed police worker Curtis Cheng in Sydney last October. | |
She and her Sudanese husband, Abu Saad al-Sudani, who was killed in the strike as well, were also allegedly recruiters for IS. | |
Prakash, who is of Cambodian and Fijian heritage, converted to Islam from Buddhism in 2012. | |
He left Australia in 2013 and travelled to Syria where he began appearing in propaganda videos and calling for attacks on Australia. | |
Jabar left Australia the day before her cousin, who had been radicalised, shot Mr Cheng outside a Sydney police station. | |
This comes after police in Australia recently charged a 16-year-old with preparing an act of terrorism, over an alleged plot to target Anzac Day services. | This comes after police in Australia recently charged a 16-year-old with preparing an act of terrorism, over an alleged plot to target Anzac Day services. |