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No special help to bring IS fighter's family home: Australian PM

Xinhua, June 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia's prime minister has reiterated on Wednesday that the family of an Australian terrorist believed killed in Syria will be treated like any other families of criminals.

Khaled Sharrouf, an Islamic State (IS) fighter whose seven-year- old son infamously posed for a photo with a severed head, is believed to have been killed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last week.

Sharrouf's wife, Tara Nettleton, and their children are now attempting to return to Australia from the Middle East but Prime Minister Tony Abbott ruled out providing any special efforts to help the process.

It is illegal for Australians be in areas known to be occupied by the IS, and those returning to Australia can be sentenced to up to 10 years' prison.

"Yes, you can't convict the kids on the basis of the crimes of the parents but nevertheless, they will be dealt with in exactly the same way as the families of criminals are normally dealt with, " Abbott told Australian broadcaster Channel Seven on Wednesday.

"These aren't the first Australians who have committed very serious crimes overseas, who have families. They will be dealt with in the normal way."

Abbott said the government remained unsure about Sharrouf's death but had a high degree of confidence that another Australian IS fighter, Mohamed Elomar, was killed in the same U.S.-led airstrike campaign last week.

Sharrouf's mother-in-law, Karen Nettleton, said on Wednesday that her daughter had made the "mistake of a lifetime" in following Sharrouf to Syria and Iraq.

Sharrouf's 14-year-old daughter was married to Elomar, while Sharrouf's sons have often posed with large rifles.

"I accept that some will be critical of my daughter, who followed her heart and has paid an enormous price," she said.

"My daughter made the mistake of a lifetime. Today she is a parent alone in a foreign and vicious land looking after a widowed 14-year-old and four other young children."

She begged Abbott and the government to use its resources to protect her daughter and grandchildren who are still Australian citizens. Endi