Mohamed Elomar – Photo Release
In late July 2014, a Twitter account purporting to belong to Khaled Sharrouf posted photos of fellow Sydney man Mohamed Elomar holding the severed heads of Syrian government soldiers. The ABC reported: "In one photo Elomar holds up two severed heads. In another, he presents one head to the camera, with another three on the floor beside him." It said the heads belonged to soldiers killed in fighting in Raqqa.
The ABC's 7.30 program reported that NSW Police had issued warrants for the immediate arrest of Sharrouf and Elomar on terrorism offences if they returned to Australia. (An editor's note says earlier versions wrongly said the AFP issued the warrants.) AFP counter-terrorism head Neil Gaughan said: "As soon as they set foot on Australian soil they will be taken into custody."
Attorney-General George Brandis said the pair "may have committed war crimes" (SBS, 30 Jul 2014). SBS also reported that a lawyer for the Elomar family, Zali Burrows, told Channel Seven she believed the photos were doctored.
In June 2015 the SMH reported, citing well-placed sources, "a 'high degree of certainty'" that Elomar had been killed in an air strike on a convoy in al-Raqqa province. The BBC reported Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as saying the government was close to verifying his death. It also reported that Sharrouf's daughter had married Elomar when she was 13.
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