Australian top IS recruiter Neil Prakash 'to be extradited'

Australia's most wanted jihadist, Neil Prakash, is likely to be extradited from Turkey within months, PM Malcolm Turnbull has said.

Prakash, a senior recruiter for so-called Islamic State, was arrested in Turkey last year and placed in jail.

Earlier last year, Australia incorrectly announced that Prakash - who has been linked to foiled terror attacks - had died in a US air strike.

The Melbourne-born man will now face trial in Australia, Mr Turnbull said.

"We have an extradition treaty with Turkey," Mr Turnbull said on the local Seven Network on Friday.

"It is just as well we do, because otherwise we would not be able to get him back and ensure this man faces justice in Australia."

Local media reported that Prakash was likely to face several terror-related charges if successfully extradited.

'Principal' threat

Prakash, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, left Australia for Syria in 2013 and has since appeared in propaganda videos and magazines.

Authorities have linked him to terror plots in Australia and calls for lone-wolf attacks against the US.

In May last year, Attorney-General George Brandis described Prakash as the "principal Australian reaching back from the Middle East" to terror networks in Melbourne and Sydney.

At the time Mr Brandis, citing US intelligence, said Prakash had been killed in an air strike in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

However, it later emerged that Prakash had been wounded and survived.

Mr Turnbull on Friday reiterated that his nation was committed to destroying the "barbaric terrorist group".

(BBC)