U.S. and Australian officials confirmed Thursday an Australian national believed to be one of Islamic State’s top recruiters was killed April 29 in a U.S. air strike.
Neil Prakash, who went by Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, was killed while operating in Mosul, Iraq. He was widely seen in various ISIS propaganda pieces and is alleged to have been plotting attacks against Australia.
“We should be gladdened by this news because Prakash was the most dangerous Australian we knew of,” said Australian Attorney General George Brandis. “We shouldn’t be complacent either that this is by no means the end of the struggle against [ISIS].”
Prakash was known to have called upon radical Islamists to conduct attacks on the Australian homeland.
“My beloved brothers in Islam in Australia, now is the time to rise, now is the time to wake up, now is the time to rush for the … Allah has promised you,” said Prakash in an ISIS propaganda video. “You must start attacking before they attack you. Look how much of your sisters have been violated.”
In addition to Prakash’s death, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook acknowledged in a press briefing Friday another Australian national, Shadi Jabar Khalil Mohammad, was killed in a separate U.S. strike April 22 in Syria alongside her Sudanese husband Abu Sa’ad al-Sudani. According to Cook, both were “actively plotting” against the U.S., Canada and U.K.. He offered no details on the nature of the couple’s plots, but he noted he was “confident” they were killed before they could carry out any operations.
It is believed there are around 110 Australian nationals fighting on behalf of ISIS.
Little is known about Prakash, though he is believed to have left Australia to fight for ISIS in 2013. Prakash, originally a Buddhist of Fijian and Cambodian background, was a recent Islamic convert before joining the terrorist group.
Mohammad had a family history of engaging in terrorism. Her younger brother Farhad Jabar killed Australian police worker Curtis Cheng in the Australian capital of Sydney last October. He was 15-years-old at the time of the murder.
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