Top IS recruiter urges attacks in Australia in new video
A Senior Australian terror recruiter has appeared in a new Islamic State propaganda video calling for attacks on home soil.
Neil Prakash, 23, is considered by counter-terrorism authorities as the top Australian recruiter for Islamic State fighters, and was most recently linked to the group of five men arrested over an alleged Anzac Day terror plot.
In the 12-and-half-minute clip, Prakash, who is based in Syria and goes by the jihadist name Abu Khalid al-Kambodi, details his conversion to Islam and his involvement in the Syrian conflict.
He goes on to urge young Muslims to 'rise up' and launch attacks in Australia.
It is not known when the video was recorded but it surfaced on Live Leak overnight.
"I send a message to my beloved brothers in Islam Australia," Prakash said in the video.
"Now is the time to rise, now is the time to wake up. You must start attacking before they attack you."
"All I hear on the news in Australia is that this sister has been violated, this sister had her hijab ripped off, but no you see the brothers sitting."
"And I ask you brothers, when is the time you are going to rise up and attack them for attacking you?"
Later in the clip he praises his 'brother' Numan Haider, the teenager shot dead during a knife attack on two police officers outside a Melbourne police station last year.
'I knew this brother personally and the efforts that he tried to make hijra (the journey to Islamic State).
"When he failed because the government took his passport, it did not stop him, look what he did brothers.
"He rushed towards Junnah (the Islamic conception of paradise). So now is the time to work on yourselves and forget what you have."
All five Melbourne men arrested over an alleged Islamic-Style attack on police at Anzac Day commemorations had ties with Haider.
Police are also reportedly investigating claims Prakash may have been in direct contact with the men.
It is understood Prakash, Haider and the five teenagers all visited the al-Furqan Islamic Centre in Springvale South.
Harun Causevic, 18, of Hampton Park and Sevdet Ramdan Besim, 18, from Hallam, have been charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist act and remanded in custody after police raids in Melbourne on Saturday.
An 18-year-old Narre Warren man was issued with a summons in relation to prohibited weapons offences while two others were released pending further inquiries.
Prakash, who is believed to have fled for Syria in 2013, replaced Mohammad Ali Baryalei, a former Sydney bouncer, as a top recruiter for IS.
Authorities believe Baryalei has killed fighting in Syria.
National news break – April 22
