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Australia’s most wanted terrorist killed

Farhad Mohammad left the mosque and opened fire.

Farhad Mohammad left the mosque and opened fire.

Australia’s most wanted terrorist Neil Prakash has been killed in a US air strike on the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq.

The ABC understands Prakash was among a gathering of IS operatives targeted on April 29, with the US recently confirming his death and advising Australia.

US authorities have also advised the federal government that Australian woman Shadi Jabar Khalil Mohammad was killed in a similar air strike near the Syrian city of Al Bab a fortnight ago.

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Mohammad was the sister of Farhad Mohammad, the teenager who shot dead police accountant Curtis Cheng in Sydney last year.

Farhad Mohammad, the teenager who shot dead police accountant Curtis Cheng in Sydney last year.

Farhad Mohammad, the teenager who shot dead police accountant Curtis Cheng in Sydney in 2015. Photo: ABC

On Thursday morning, Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed on Sky News that “Australia’s most prominent and dangerous Australian had been killed”.

Prakash’s death is considered “significant” by Australian and US authorities because of his highly prominent and influential role as a senior IS recruiter.

He was believed to have left Melbourne for Syria in 2013, where he changed his name to Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, and was put on a US kill list.

A senior security official has told the ABC removing Prakash was a big breakthrough, as he had been linked to several Australian-based attack plans and calls for lone-wolf attacks against the US.

Prakash had also appeared in IS propaganda, including a chilling video message released 12 months ago which called for attacks on Australia.

Meanwhile, Shadi Jabar Khalil Mohammad is believed to have been killed alongside her Sudanese husband in Syria in an air strike on April 22.

The federal government said the two killings should remind Australians that those who engaged in terrorist activity and moved into overseas conflict zones were placing themselves and others at significant risk.

ABC

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