Two men who appear to resemble Australian nationals Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar are featured in a new Islamic State (ISIS) video that shows the beheading of a man the terror group claims is a spy.
In a video titled “Harvest of the Apostates,” the executioner, who is believed to be Sharrouf, sports a heavy beard and is standing, knife in hand, behind the so-called “spy.” Behind Sharrouf is a gang of several individuals, one of whom is believed to be Elomar, who is holding a rifle.
The Daily Telegraph reports that “security agencies have waded through videos and images from Syria searching for intelligence on Elomar and Sharrouf who have been proscribed by Australia and the UN as wanted terrorists.”
Sharrouf and Elomar are reportedly now known in Syria as Abu Zarqawi and Abu Hafs. In January, they reportedly enslaved and tortured Yazidi women. Last year, Elomar reportedly surfaced in an ISIS video in which he helped stomp three Syrian soldiers to death.
Officials believe the two men left to join the jihad in 2013. In July 2014, the Australian Federal Police issued warrants for their arrest. Shortly after Sharrouf entered the Middle East, his convert wife and five children allegedly followed him into the region. Sharrouf recently posted a picture on social media that shows his seven-year-old son holding up a severed head. It included a caption that said, “That’s my boy,” the Daily Mail reports.
Officials estimate that over 100 Australian nationals have joined the Islamic State.