Australian listed in Isis guidebook as go-to man for recruits
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Version 0 of 1. An Australian fighting in Syria is listed in a recent Islamic State (Isis) guidebook as one of a small group of contacts for people wanting to join the extremist group. Neil Prakash, believed to the most senior Australian fighting with Isis, has previously been identified as a top target of intelligence agencies and is accused of urging supporters to carry out attacks in Australia. The book lists 19 contacts – 16 men and three women – who “live in the Islamic State” and are available online for people to follow. Prakash, known as Abu Khalid al-Cambodi, is listed at No 4 under the Twitter handle Abu Kambodee in the Isis e-book originally published in February but re-posted on social media overnight on Wednesday. The 100-page document, entitled “The Islamic State (2015)”, offers detailed advice on how “members get into & out of Syria” and “useful Twitter contacts who are in IS to Private Direct Message”. It also includes the “daily timetable of a member” and contains a battle diary. Towards the end, the e-book says: “These people live in the Islamic State. They have [information withheld] and other private messaging apps. If their [information withheld] is banned, they will always make a new one.” The 23-year-old, from Melbourne, was an associate of the Australian Mohamed Ali Baryalei, the Isis recruiter believed to have been killed in Syria last year. Baryalei is allegedly responsible for getting dozens of Australians to the battlefields of Syria to join Isis. He was also allegedly involved in a plot to abduct and behead a member of the public in Sydney, which was foiled last September and triggered the largest counter-terrorism operation in Australian history. In February, the Australian newspaper quoted an intelligence official as saying “Prakash has to some extent stepped into the void” left by Baryalei. The e-book includes a diagram sourced from western media describing Australia as being at “the front against Islamic State”. It includes an image of the Earth depicting the origin of “muhajireen [emigrants]” to Isis, claiming 250 are from Australia. Other pages, also sourced from western media, boast that the area controlled by Isis is bigger than Britain, and that people living in the “caliphate” receive better welfare benefits than in Finland. It also includes a detailed breakdown of the Isis leadership. Recruits apparently rise at 4.45am for prayer and religious study, followed by “intense running/foot exercises”, hours of weapons training, more prayers and evening classes. The day ends at 10pm. Recruits are then “sent to battle to fight and gain experience, or gain martyrdom”. “Fighters will be given money, or may have brought some with themselves already. With this money they can buy more weapons, explosive-martyrdom belts, or even simply food like ice cream from the souks [shopping centres] when they are free from battle and back in the city,” the document says. Prakash, who is of Fijian and Cambodian descent, has also appeared in an Isis propaganda film. The Abu Kambodee Twitter account has been suspended. Prakash has moved to a fresh account. |