One in four Australians who have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq have reportedly been killed.
Attorney-General George Brandis has told The Australian that at least 20 Australians have died while fighting with terror groups in the region, with the number rising over the past few months.
"They are simply using them as frontline cannon fodder, suicide bombers and propaganda tools," Senator Brandis said.
“The government is aware of around 20 Australians who have died in the conflict in Syria and Iraq."
“This number has risen in recent weeks, with several Australians understood to have died in fighting against government forces, including in Kobane."
It's believed there are around 70 Australians still fighting in the Middle East.
Victorian Police chief commissioner Ken Lay said the figures underlined the risk to young Australians who were "likely" to die if they went overseas to fight.
"You'd hope that mainly young men who are considering this understand that they're very likely to get killed if they do go over and fight," he told Fairfax radio.
Commissioner Lay also said Islamic State recruiters are still trying to drag young Australians into the conflict.
"We're still seeing lots of stuff on the social media which is extremely worrying and obviously there's attempts to get young people to go over to the Middle East and fight," he said.
"It's still going on, we're still watching it very closely, and we're working with other police jurisdictions and other agencies to try and prevent that happening."
The Australian government recently passed a raft of legislation to stop would-be fighters leaving Australia and entering the conflict.
The Foreign Fighters Bill passed parliament in October, and prohibits travel to terrorist hot spots without a valid excuse and makes it illegal to promote or encourage terrorism.
Just last week, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop declared the Syrian province, Al Raqqa, a no-go zone. Ms Bishop said the province was the de-factor Islamic State capital.
Australians travelling there without a valid reason could face up to 10 year in jail.
Already 75 Australians believed to be in Syria and Iraq have had their passports cancelled. The government has refused to issue passports to another 10 planning to travel to the region.
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