Melb teen fighting for IS described as shy

A former classmate of a Melbourne teen fighting for Islamic State has described him as a quiet and shy kid.

Former classmates are shocked at reports that Melbourne teen Jake Bilardi is fighting for Islamic State.

Students from Craigieburn Secondary College say they are shocked that the "quiet and shy" boy they went to school with is reportedly fighting with the terrorist organisation.

A photo of Jake appeared on Twitter in December, with gun-toting extremists in front of an IS flag.

Originally the British media labelled him as "Britain's White Jihadi".

However, Fairfax Media has identified him as the former Melbourne school boy from a non-Muslim family.

One class mate said he recognised Bilardi when the photo first surfaced but was still shocked by the news reports.

"A few weeks ago my friends and I saw a picture that was all around the news which was labelled 'Britain's White Jihadi'," the classmate said on social media.

"We thought to ourselves that it looks an awful lot like Jake."

He said he never expected someone like Jake would join a terrorist organisation.

"Always keep an eye out on the quiet ones," he said.


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Source: AAP


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