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Australian Isis fighters reportedly killed in Iraq Australian Isis fighters reportedly killed in Iraq
(about 1 hour later)
Authorities are working to verify reports two Australian Islamic State fighters have been killed in northern Iraq. Julie Bishop says the government has no information to verify reports that two Australian Islamic State fighters have been killed in northern Iraq.
Foreign minister Julie Bishop has acknowledged that the federal government is aware of reports Isis recruits Khaled Sharrouf and Mohammed Elomar are dead following fighting in Mosul. The foreign minister acknowledged that the federal government was aware of reports Isis recruits Khaled Sharrouf and Mohammed Elomar were dead following fighting in Mosul.
There have been unconfirmed reports that the pair, who travelled to Syria in 2013 and then to Iraq, were killed in the past week by a drone strike – but it is proving difficult to get information from the war zone. The reports said the pair, who travelled to Syria in 2013 and then to Iraq, had been killed in the past week by a drone strike.
The reports have come as government MPs are about to see controversial proposed legislation to strip dual-nationality terror supporters of their Australian citizenship. “We don’t have any information at present to verify whether or not these reports are correct,” Bishop said on Monday night.
If reports of the deaths are true it will be a major setback for Isis, a terrorism expert has said. “You will be aware that in both al-Raqqa province in Syria and in Mosul in Iraq we have declared these areas off limits for Australians who have no legitimate purpose for being there.
“If the reports are true and are verified, I think it’ll be a significant blow to the Islamic State,” Australian National University academic Dr Clarke Jones told ABC TV. “So it’s difficult for us to gain the kind of information that would be needed to verify these reports at this stage.
“Our security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies will be working to verify these reports but I stress it’s very difficult to gain the information necessary given that it is a war zone,” Bishop said.
Sharrouf and Elomar gained notoriety last year when they posed in photos holding the severed heads of enemy fighters. A son of Sharrouf’s was also photographed holding a severed head.
Bishop said the two men had been “notorious for their violence and barbarity”.