Child of IS fighter ‘filmed threatening to kill Australians’

SYDNEY — Police in Australia said yesterday that they were investigating a report that the eight-year-old son of a notorious Islamic State (IS) fighter was filmed wearing a suicide vest and threatening to kill Australians.

The footage was allegedly of the youngest son of Khaled Sharrouf, who in February became the first Australian to be stripped of his citizenship under anti-terrorism laws.

The young boy was recently filmed holding two guns and a knife, and making threats as a voice off-camera asked him, “How do you kill an Australian?”, Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph reported.

Sharrouf, who left Australia for Syria in 2013 with his family, made international headlines in 2014 when he posted an image on Twitter of another son of his holding a severed head.

“The New South Wales (NSW) Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) is aware of a video emanating from the Middle East depicting a minor making threats in the name of Isis,” NSW state police said in a statement, using another acronym for IS.

“The JCTT is investigating the video. However, there is no specific threat. The current national terrorism threat level remains at ‘probable’.”

After Sharrouf’s wife Tara Nettleton reportedly died in Syria last year, there were failed efforts by her mother to bring their five children back home to Australia.

Sharrouf was also believed to have been killed in a drone strike in Iraq in 2015, but media reports later cast doubt on whether he was dead.

Mr Matthew Canavan, Australia’s Minister for Resources, condemned the video that allegedly featured Sharrouf’s young son. “I don’t think you could think of a greater form of child abuse (than) to be subjecting a kid to that kind of propaganda, to almost turn them into a murderer, so to speak,” he was quoted as saying to Sky News Australia yesterday.

“It is reprehensible. It has to be condemned, and I trust that the proper authorities will look into this matter,” Mr Canavan added.

On whether Sharrouf’s children should be allowed to return to Australia should the opportunity present itself, Mr Canavan said it was up to the country’s security agencies to determine that, but the safety and security of Australians had to be taken into account.

“It’s not appropriate for the government to be commenting on individual cases, where we have a proper framework and process to establish and evaluate these issues,” he told Sky News Australia. “I do have sympathy for the young child in this situation. It is not his fault that his father is an evil megalomaniac seeking to abuse his own children.”

Canberra lifted the terror threat alert level in September 2014 and introduced new national security laws amid concerns of attacks by individuals inspired by organisations such as IS.

It also cracked down on Australians attempting to travel to conflict zones such as Syria and Iraq.

Authorities believe 110 Australians have travelled to Syria or Iraq to fight with terror groups, of which around 60 have been killed. AGENCIES