Queensland Islamic State fighter: Brisbane Council worker Zia Abdul Haq killed after travelling to Syria

Updated

The family of a former Brisbane City Council worker killed after travelling to Syria to fight for the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) is in shock, the Islamic Council of Queensland says.

Council president Mohammad Yusuf said he had spoken with family members of Afghan-born Logan man Zia Abdul Haq.

Mr Yusuf said he was unaware the 33-year-old had joined IS militants.

IS has committed mass atrocities in Syria and Iraq, including killing prisoners, recruiting child fighters, and according to the group, capturing women and children as spoils of war.

Abdul Haq was killed during the conflict on October 3, The Australian newspaper reported.

He lived in Logan, south of Brisbane, with his now ex-wife and son before travelling to Syria to join IS.

Abdul Haq migrated to Australia in his 20s and at one point attended the Holland Park Mosque, in Brisbane's west.

He was a shy person, mosque spokesman Ali Kadri told the AAP news agency.

"He was here for 10 years and went away last August," he said.

He said Abdul Haq did not speak of his plans before disappearing.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Government was aware of the reported death, but it had not yet been confirmed.

"As Australia did not have a diplomatic mission in Syria, the Government's capacity to verify the report was limited," Ms Bishop said in a statement.

"I cannot confirm on grounds of privacy whether the individual's passport was cancelled on the basis of security concerns.

Last month, police officers raided a Logan Islamic centre and charged a man with allegedly recruiting, facilitating and funding people to fight in Syria.

Islamic leaders in south-east Queensland said that partly lead to an increase in hate crimes after someone left anti-Muslim pamphlets outside the Logan mosque.

They were filled with abusive language and photographs.

Later in the month, Christian and Muslim communities came together for an interfaith service at the Kuraby mosque to condemn religious violence.

It followed incidents including members of the Muslim community being verbally abused and vandalism at mosques and Islamic centres in and around the Brisbane and Logan areas.

In the latest fighting in Syria, Kurdish fighters recaptured a strategically important hill west of Kobane, on Syria's border with Turkey, from Islamic State militants.

The advances were made after a series of air strikes by the United States-led coalition.

The hill was captured more than 10 days ago by IS jihadists, who have besieged the area for a month.

ABC/AAP

Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, logan-central-4114, qld, brisbane-4000, australia, syrian-arab-republic

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