Australia's 'Jihadi Jake' In Suicide Attack

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A Melbourne teenager who went to Iraq to join Islamic State has reportedly been killed carrying out a suicide bombing.

An image from video apparently released by the group, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, showed a white four-wheel-drive with an inset image of a young man who looks like Jake Bilardi sitting behind the wheel.

Another image posted on Twitter showed the 18-year-old sat beneath an IS flag with a caption that suggested the Australian had been involved in a "martyrdom" operation.

Militants carried out 13 suicide car bombings on security personnel positions in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province on Wednesday.

Two soldiers were killed and eight others wounded in the near-simultaneous attacks, Sabah Karhout, head of Anbar's provincial council, said.

In a statement posted online, IS said the suicide blast had been carried out by foreign fighters from Australia, Belgium, Syria and Uzbekistan.

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Gallery: Iraqi Forces Enter Tikrit

Members of Iraqi government forces drive on the outskirts of the city of Tikrit as they prepare to launch a military operation to take control of the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters

The Iraqi forces enter a northern neighbourhood of Tikrit, marking a new stage in the operation launched 10 days ago to wrest the city back from jihadists, army officers said

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Members of Iraqi paramilitary Popular Mobilisation units, which are dominated by Shia militias, carry a box loaded with weapons on the outskirts of the northern city of Tikrit

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Some 30,000 Iraqi soldiers, police and the increasingly influential paramilitary Popular Mobilisation units, which are dominated by Shia militias, have been involved in the operation

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Iraqi fighters in north Tikrit. The city has been one of the jihadists' main hubs since they overran large parts of Iraq nine months ago. Continue through for more pictures

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Images of other fighters said to have been involved in the attacks also appeared on the internet.

Australian authorities have been unable to confirm that Bilardi has died in Iraq.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the reports were "absolutely horrific".

"It shows the lure, the lure of this death cult to impressionable youngsters and it's very, very important that we do everything we can to try to safeguard our young people against the lure of this shocking, alien and extreme ideology," he said.

The teenager, described as a shy but gifted maths student, converted to Islam after the death of his mother while he was at high school.

He travelled to the Middle East last year and after two months reportedly contacted his family to tell them he was training to become a suicide bomber.

However, he later told them he had changed his mind and was travelling to Syria to fight there.

Bilardi's passport was cancelled in October on the advice of security agencies, Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop said.

Police said they first learned about Bilardi when he was reported missing in late 2014.

While searching his home in Melbourne, officers found chemicals that could be used to make an explosive device.

No actual devices were found, police said.

Meanwhile, details of a blog reportedly written by the teenager have emerged.

In a long post entitled From Melbourne to Ramadi: My Journey, Abu Abdullah al Australi, understood to be Bilardi's pseudonym, writes about his research into Islam and his upbringing.

"My life in Melbourne's working-class suburbs was, despite having its ups and downs just like everyone else, very comfortable. I found myself excelling in my studies, just as my siblings had, and had dreamed of becoming a political journalist," the blog reads.

"I always dreamed that one day I would travel to countries such as Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan to cover the situations in these lands."

The images of Bilardi and the other suspected suicide bombers were released the day after video emerged that appeared to show a young boy shooting dead a man IS claimed was an Israeli spy.

The parents of the Israeli Arab victim told Sky News they believed he had been killed because he had tried to run away from the group.

French officials said the boy and the man with him were French citizens who could be related to Mohammed Merah, who killed seven people in attacks on a Jewish school and paratroopers in 2012.

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