An Australian fighter for the Islamic State allegedly tweeted a picture of his 7-year-old son holding a severed head, sparking outrage among government and religious officials.
The photograph tweeted by 33-year-old Khaled Sharrouf, a self-proclaimed jihadist for IS, reportedly shows his son holding the head of a dead soldier for the Syrian government, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"That's my boy," reads the photo's caption.
Sharrouf, Australia's most wanted terrorist, is believed to have taken the image in the eastern Syrian town of Raqqa at the end of July, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. At the time dozens of Syrian soldiers were killed by IS militants, with the bodies left on display for several days in the town square.
David Johnston, Australia's defense minister, said he was "revolted" by the picture that is "a shocking misrepresentation of Islam."
"I'm very upset by this sort of thing completely coloring our view of Muslims. I think anybody who knows and understands the Muslim community, they are, by far, very peace-loving," Johnston said according to ABC.
Muslims in Australia have nothing to do with the disturbing photo that was taken by a "lunatic," said Samier Danden, president of the Lebanese Muslim Association.
"I stand very far from that concept- this is an act of a lunatic," he said according to ABC. "Even if you are saying to me he made his son lift or carry and take a picture with a decapitated head this is something reflective of something we can all agree- this is an act of a lunatic."
Sharrouf, of Punchbowl, Australia, used his brother's passport to leave the country in 2013 and took his four children to Syria and Iraq, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Since then he has reportedly been fighting with the Islamic State.
He is now Australia's most wanted terrorist and repeatedly taunts authorities with inflammatory images and remarks he posts on the Internet, the newspaper reported.
