Teen on suicide bombing waiting list

A blog by terrorist teen Jake Bilardi reveal he was plotting an attack on Australia before fleeing to Iraq, where he was on a suicide bombing waiting list

IS flag

IS flag (File: AAP) Source: AP

Bomb making materials were found in the home of a Melbourne teen terrorist who is believed to have died in a suicide bombing in Iraq after awaiting his turn to "stand before Allah" on a list of "martyrdom bombers".

Jake Bilardi, 18, left Melbourne in August 2014 and is understood to have flown via Turkey to Iraq.

He is believed to have died on Thursday morning (AEDT) during a series of deadly coordinated Islamic State suicide bombings in the Iraq city of Ramadi in which at least 17 people were killed and dozens injured.

On Thursday it emerged that his passport had been cancelled after he left Australia and that he had been under the radar of authorities since then.

Victorian police also confirmed that bomb making materials were found in Bilardi's home, but no explosive devices were discovered.

Pictures of the 18-year-old have been plastered across IS Twitter accounts, with one captioned "For today's Martyrs".

One image appears to show Bilardi driving a white van, typically used by IS as mobile suicide bombs, with the words "may God accept him".

Australian authorities are trying to confirm the teen's death.

Unverified blog posts written under the name Abu Abdullah Al-Australi, believed to be Bilardi, reveal the teen was plotting attacks on Australia before fleeing to Iraq.

He wanted to bomb foreign consulates and political targets in Australia, as well as launch attacks on shopping centres, before dumping the idea.

In another post Bilardi said he was "waiting for my turn to stand before Allah" and there was a "current waiting list of 12 martyrdom bombers, of which I am one".

The post details the journey from a bright school student to IS terrorist, describing growing up in Melbourne as "very comfortable".

He dreamed of becoming a political journalist.

Bilardi reportedly became a confused and angry atheist after losing his mother to cancer in 2012, living with his two older brothers and a sister after the death and converting to Islam.

When he initially went to Syria he was supporting groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, but when he looked into IS he became attracted to its methods and ideology and joined it.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop cancelled Bilardi's passport on security advice in October, two months after he fled to the Middle East.

At least 20 Australians have been killed in the conflict and 100 passports have been cancelled on national security grounds.

"It is a senseless and cruel and violent end for many of them and if Jake Bilardi is another example of this, well then the tragedy deepens further," Ms Bishop said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the unconfirmed death as an "absolutely horrific situation".

"It's very, very important that we do everything we can to try to safeguard our young people against the lure of this shocking, alien and extreme ideology," Mr Abbott said.

BBC journalist Secunder Kermani previously made contact with an IS supporter he understood to be Bilardi.

Mr Kermani said Bilardi had tweeted on several occasions his support for attacking Australia because of its role in the military coalition against IS.

The government is consulting with Facebook, Google and other internet companies about taking down online content which could have a radicalising effect.


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Source: AAP


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