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Alleged ISIS Recruiter Extradited from Türkiye to Australia

FILE: Fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces secure the Iraqi-Syrian border in al-Qaim in Anbar province in Iraq | AFP
FILE: Fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces secure the Iraqi-Syrian border in al-Qaim in Anbar province in Iraq | AFP
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Alleged ISIS Recruiter Extradited from Türkiye to Australia

FILE: Fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces secure the Iraqi-Syrian border in al-Qaim in Anbar province in Iraq | AFP
FILE: Fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces secure the Iraqi-Syrian border in al-Qaim in Anbar province in Iraq | AFP

An ISIS militant who featured heavily in the terrorist group's recruiting propaganda will be charged with "serious terror offences" after being extradited to Australia from Türkiye, federal police said Friday.

Neil Christopher Prakash, 31, was arrested in Türkiye in 2016 after crossing into the country from Syria, AFP reported.

Prakash was sentenced in 2019 to seven years imprisonment by a Turkish court, which found him guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization.

Australian Federal Police said Prakash arrived in Australia by plane on Friday morning.

"An investigation started in 2016 when the man was alleged to have travelled to Syria to fight with ISIS," it said in a statement.

"The AFP will allege in court that the man committed a range of serious terrorism offences."

Authorities have estimated some 230 Australians travelled to Iraq and Syria to take up arms since 2012 -- Prakash being one of the most prominent examples.

He featured in ISIS recruiting videos in which he urged Australians to "wake up" and join the group.

Prakash was described by former conservative prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as one of the "key financiers or organizers" for ISIS in the Middle East.

Former Australian attorney-general George Brandis in 2016 said Prakash had been killed in Iraq following a targeted US air strike.

It was later confirmed that he was wounded but not killed in the blast.

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Attack on Hospital Run by Doctors Without Borders Leaves at Least 4 Dead in South Sudan

A South Sudanese soldier walks around the streets of Juba in a "show of force" ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the country this week in Juba, South Sudan February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
A South Sudanese soldier walks around the streets of Juba in a "show of force" ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the country this week in Juba, South Sudan February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
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Attack on Hospital Run by Doctors Without Borders Leaves at Least 4 Dead in South Sudan

A South Sudanese soldier walks around the streets of Juba in a "show of force" ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the country this week in Juba, South Sudan February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
A South Sudanese soldier walks around the streets of Juba in a "show of force" ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the country this week in Juba, South Sudan February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Jok Solomun

Doctors Without Borders said Saturday that its facility in a remote part of South Sudan was targeted in an aerial bombardment that resulted in some casualties.

The hospital is located in a northern town known as Old Fangak, some 475 kilometers (295 miles) outside of Juba, the capital.

The medical charity, known by its French initials, MSF, released a statement on X condemning the attack on its hospital, said to be the only source of medical care for 40,000 residents, including many people displaced by flooding.

It called the attack “a clear violation of international law.”

Fangak County Commissioner, Biel Butros Biel, told The Associated Press that at least four people were killed in the aerial attack, including a 9-month-old child. He added that at least 25 people were wounded, though an assessment of the damage was ongoing.

It was not immediately clear why the facility was targeted, apparently by government troops. A spokesman for South Sudan’s military could not be reached for comment.

A spokesperson for MSF said their hospital in Old Fangak was hit by airstrikes shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.

The attack caused significant damage to the hospital’s pharmacy, destroying all medical supplies. There was no definitive word on casualties.

Additional strikes occurred hours later near the Old Fangak market, causing widespread panic and displacement of civilians, according to several eyewitnesses.

Old Fangak is one of several major towns in Fangak county, an ethnically Nuer part of the country that has been historically associated with the opposition party loyal to Riek Machar, South Sudan’s first vice president, who is now under house arrest for alleged subversion.

The town has been ravaged since 2019 by flooding that has left few options for people to escape the fighting. One eyewitness, Thomas Mot, said that some left by boat, while others fled on foot into flood waters.

The attack on the hospital is the latest escalation in a government-led assault on opposition groups across the country.

Since March, government troops backed by soldiers from Uganda have conducted dozens of airstrikes targeting areas in neighboring Upper Nile State.