Armando Cordoba, James Dowling
Herald Sun
October 19 2015.
AUSTRALIA’S most senior terrorist has gone into hiding for fear coalition bombers will be able to track him down using his Twitter feed.
Noted Islamic State propagandist Neil Prakash has shut down his social media sites and stopped replying to online messages from supporters.
For months, the former Melbourne jihadi had urged others to carry out attacks in Western countries and boasted he could help Westerners wanting to join him in Syria.
It is believed he has gone into cyber silence for fear authorities may be able to track his location through his internet use. Prakash is reportedly on a US kill list.
He was involved in an alleged plot to behead police officers on Anzac Day in Melbourne.
But in a text conversation obtained by the Herald Sun, a fellow jihadi said senior IS figures had urged him to drop his online profile.
Abu Khalid al-Amriki, a jihadi from the US, said Prakash had been banned from using the internet.
Last month, Al-Amriki, who is believed to have since been killed in combat, said Prakash was ordered offline after three of the Melbourne man’s closest friends were killed by coalition bombs.
Deadly UK strikes took out Reyaad Khan and fellow jihadi Ruhul Amin in September.
And British hacker Junaid Hussain was killed by a US bomb last month.
One of Prakash’s last tweets claimed he did not fear death and goaded the US to send him a “paradise missile”.
Prakash and other Western fighters were once the main source of propaganda.
They had been vocal in urging others to join IS or carry out attacks in Western countries.
While Prakash has fallen silent, the wife of slain Melbourne jihadist Suhan Rahman is trying to recruit Australian women to join the IS terror group.
Umm Jihad, who is an American named Hoda, revealed she had been actively trying to groom young women to travel to Syria to become jihadi brides.
In an encrypted text conversation — seen by the Herald Sun — the jihadi recruiter trained a potential recruit on how to get to Syria.
“Are you prepared with everything? Passport, Luggage and Money?,” the American recruiter asked the girl.
Umm Jihad told the wannabe jihadi to take measures to protect herself as the American’s phone was “prob tapped”.
“It’s best not to text me until u r legit preparing encase u need help.”
In March, a woman claiming to be Suhan Rahman’s wife said that Abu Jihadi al Australi, Rahman’s combat name, was killed in a clash in Syria.
