Aussie intel pinpointed Sharrouf for US strike

Australian agencies played key role in lead up to airstrike believed to have killed terrorist | WARNING: Graphic content

Khaled Sharrouf.

Australian intelligence agencies played a key role leading up to the planning of a US airstrike in Syria that is believed to have killed the nation’s most notorious terrorist, Khaled Sharrouf, and his two sons.

The Australian has been told that information supplied to the Five Eyes intelligence network, believed to be from the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, was critical to tracking down the key Islamic State figure and convicted terrorist, who slipped out of Australia on his brother’s passport in December 2013, a year after being released from prison.

A government source said a large airstrike on a number of ­vehicles outside Islamic State’s self-declared capital Raqqa, under the supervision of the US Joint Operations Command, had killed the 36-year-old Sharrouf.

Reports provided to the Australian government suggested two of Sharrouf’s sons, Abdullah, 12, and Zarqawi, 11, who had been used by their father in ISIS propaganda material, were also killed. Abdullah was infamously photographed carrying a severed head.

It is understood Malcolm Turnbull was briefed by intelligence chiefs before a national ­security committee meeting on Tuesday. The government was cautious about confirming ­whether Sharrouf had been killed, with similar reports in 2015 proving to be wrong.

A government source said there was a “high degree of confidence” that the Sharroufs were among the dead.

It is unclear whether, at the time the strike was ordered, it was known Sharrouf’s sons were also in the car.

The future for Sharrouf’s daughters Zaynab, 16, and Hoda, 15, and one surviving son, Humzeh, 7, whose mother Tara Nettleton was also killed in Syria in 2015, is now unclear. All three are Australian citizens.

A photo Sharrouf tweeted of Abdullah holding the head of a slain Syrian official.

The Prime Minister has said that the government would protect Australian children of terror fighters who might return home from conflicts in the Middle East.

However, it is unlikely that any Australian personnel would be tasked to retrieve them.

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said Sharrouf’s death would be nothing to mourn. “I’m aware of the ­reports that Khaled Sharrouf has been killed,” Mr Dutton said.

“It is always very difficult to confirm given we are dealing with war zones in Syria and Iraq.

“The point to make though is that no Australian would mourn the loss of Khaled Sharrouf. He was a terrorist, he sought to harm Australians and if he returned to our country he would be a significant threat to this country.

“So nobody would mourn his loss and the fact is if people make a decision to go to the Middle East or anywhere else to engage with ISIS to fight against countries like ours then, frankly, they deserve the outcome that perhaps has happened to Sharrouf.

Australian Islamic State supporter Khaled Sharrouf with his three sons, from left, Zarqawi, Abdullah and Humzeh in Syria.

“There have been a number of reports before which have proved not to be accurate in terms of the likely death of Sharrouf and that’s why I think it is prudent to wait for further information.

“But obviously we receive briefings and information in relation to activities and the activities of ally efforts in the Middle East as well.”

Sharrouf was the first Australian to be stripped of his citizenship by the government under laws passed late last year. In 2013 he fled to Syria using his brother’s passport in what would become an embarrassment to authorities.

With his friend, former Sydney man Mohamed Elomar, Sharrouf cut a bloody swathe through Syria and Iraq, posting dozens of photographs of severed heads or dead and mutilated bodies.

In 2015 Elomar was killed in a drone strike in Raqqa and there were reports Sharrouf had ­perished with him.

However, he soon resurfaced.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan told The Australian yesterday: “Khaled Sharrouf and his wife took their children to an active war zone, and exposed them to the barbaric practices of Islamic State. It is incomprehensible that any parent would involve their child in these atrocities.”

A senior government source yesterday confirmed Australian intelligence sources were involved with US counterparts in the lead-up to the operation, providing key information on Sharrouf’s methods of operation and movements.

The five Sharrouf children, clockwise from back left: Zaynab, Hoda, Abdullah, Humzeh and Zarqawi.

A foreign intelligence source said: “International partners have high confidence that it’s him.”

Community sources close to Sharrouf are said to be circulating photographs of a corpse, believed to be Sharrouf’s.

In the years leading up to his apparent death Sharrouf is believed to have sustained a number of injuries, including a wound to his leg and eye.

There were unconfirmed reports he was briefly spirited across the border into Turkey to receive medical treatment before returning to the Syrian conflict.

One source with knowledge of the photograph said one of Sharrouf’s previous injuries was visible, deepening the belief that he was among those killed.

Charles Waterstreet, a lawyer representing Sharrouf’s mother-in-law, Karen Nettleton, said the reports of Sharrouf’s death, and that of his sons, appeared true.

Mr Waterstreet said Karen Nettleton had been in contact with the Sharrouf family, who had confirmed the deaths.

He said his client had been devastated to learn of the deaths of her two grandchildren and was terrified for the remaining children. “Her grandchildren are in a place where they could be bombed at any minute,’’ Mr Waterstreet said.

Additional reporting: Greg Bearup