Australian Model Turned ISIS Recruit Killed In Syria

Prime Minister pleads with Australians after Melbourne man shot dead while fighting with Islamic State militants.

Sharky Jama, a 25-year-old model from Melbourne is believed to have been shot and killed while fighting for ISIS in Syria.

FRM Management

He is the 20th Australian to have been killed in Syria and Iraq since 2012.

His father, Dada Jama, told SBS Radio Somali that he received a phone call from friends telling him that his son had been shot.

"He got a text message and he received a phone call from Syria, someone has told him his son has passed away. Then he said 'I tried his number,' because he has contact with his son. Automatically, it goes to voicemail, that’s what he said, and then he knew that his son is gone," Broadcaster Ibrahim Mohamed told SBS News.

Jama was signed with modelling agency FRM Management before he left Australia late last year, and was believed to have been based in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

frm.com.au

It's believed Jama joined ISIS at the same time as a friend, Yusuf Yusuf, a former business student at La Trobe University.

The Australian reported that Jama wrote about martyrdom in a social media post in December.

“(As) I found most often, it’s the brothers who do the martyrdom operations that are the happiest of people,” he wrote.

A relative posted this image on Facebook, saying "Rest in peace my handsome lil cousin".

facebook.com

“You are a danger to others, you are a danger to yourself, don’t do it,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday.

Tauseef Mustafa / Getty Images

Speaking in Melbourne, Mr Abbott repeated his blunt warning for Australians thinking of joining ISIS.

"My very simple message to anyone considering joining these groups is don’t,” he said.

“They are death cults. They are not about religion they are just about death and it is just as likely to be your death as anyone else’s.”

A family friend spoke of his shock and disbelief at the news. Dr Berhan Ahmed told 3AW Mornings "A family losing their young boy at this age, it's quite shocking. He was full of energy, a boy with so much potential."

Mr Ahmed, chair of the Victorian community group African Think Tank, told Brett McLeod on 3AW Mornings that young men who went to the Middle East often felt alienated from their communities.

"We are losing our youth - we are the ones crying out," he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has not confirmed the death, citing the "extremely dangerous security situation" in Syria.