The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Khaled Sharrouf: Security agencies investigate reports Australian survived drone strike in Syria

Australia’s security agencies are investigating whether terrorist Khaled Sharrouf survived a US drone strike in Syria.

A person close to one of the men’s families previously told the ABC’s 7.30 program the strike killed Sharrouf and fellow Australian terrorist Mohamed Elomar.

Another source close to the families also said they were told Sharrouf and Elomar were killed by a drone strike.

But reports in News Corp newspapers today suggested Sharrouf survived the attack.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said in a statement Australian intelligence agencies were “working to verify” those reports.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he did not know Sharrouf’s fate, but was sure there was no doubt he was a dangerous person.

“What we do know is that he has inflicted terrible, terrible pain and suffering on people at his own hands in the Middle East.”

Sharrouf and Elomar travelled to Syria and then Iraq in 2013, with Sharrouf using his brother’s passport to leave Australia.

They shot to global infamy last year when photos were posted online of them holding the severed heads of pro-Syrian government soldiers.

Sharrouf was also wanted by Australian authorities for his role in the suspected shooting execution of an Iraqi official outside Mosul.

Elomar’s postings on social media indicated he was a popular and influential figure among Australians who turned up to fight for IS.

If confirmed, their deaths would likely be greeted with relief by security agencies who believed both men continued to reach back to Australia to communicate with young, impressionable Muslims and convince them to travel to Syria and Iraq to fight under the IS banner.

Australian police warrants were issued for both men last year, but they had long professed a desire to die on the battlefields of the Middle East and it was unlikely either would ever return to Australia to be arrested.

Early this year Sharrouf and Elomar were accused of enslaving women from the Yazidi religious minority in northern Iraq.

 

 

abc.net.au