MELBOURNE, Australia
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has denounced the shooting of a Shia Muslim cleric in Sydney, calling it the work of apparent supporters of the "ISIL death cult," local media reported Tuesday.
Rasoul Al-Musawi, 47, was hit in the face and shoulder outside the Husainiyah Nabi Akram mosque in Greenacre, southwest Sydney, in the early hours of Monday morning, the Australian newspaper said. His injuries are not life threatening.
Calling on Australians to reject the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) -- the militant group terrorizing Iraq and Syria -- Abbott said: "It seems there is an ISIL death cult influence in this shooting in Sydney in the last 24 hours. The important thing is for all of us to absolutely reject this death cult."
The newspaper quoted him as saying: "What we have seen here is an apocalyptic, millennial, extremist ideology which is now rampaging across Syria and Iraq. It’s displaced millions of people, it’s killed tens -- if not hundreds of thousands -- of people, and it has echoes here in Australia."
The premier, who leads Australia’s Liberal Party, said it appeared that the country had come "quite close" to recording the first murder by ISIL extremists on Australian soil.
The shooting occurred on the feast day of Ashura, the 10th day of the first month of the Islamic calendar that marks the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Hussein ibn Ali.
Police are still investigating whether the attack was religiously motivated, but witnesses claimed ISIL supporters -- who follow an extremist vision of Sunni Islam and view Shia Muslims as apostates -- had shouted slogans outside the mosque just hours before the shooting.
Meanwhile, around 3,000 Shia Muslims marched in Sydney on Tuesday to mark Ashura.
The crowd chanted praise for Hussein, who was killed in 680, as it moved through Hyde Park.
"We are hoping to spread the idea that peace can be achieved through speech and not war,” engineering student Ghufran Al-Khazali told the Australian. Some marchers carried anti-ISIL placards.
In September, a huge police operation saw the arrests of 15 people following intelligence that extremists were planning to attack Australians and stage a public beheading. A week later a terror suspect was shot dead after stabbing two police officers in Melbourne.
Australia has committed 600 troops to the U.S.-led coalition against ISIL, which has urged its supporters to kill civilians and soldiers in countries taking part. The government plans tough anti-terror legislation, including a law that could see Australian nationals jailed if they travel to countries declared off-limits.
A number of Australians have reportedly travelled to fight for ISIL in the Middle East and in recent days two have been reported killed, including Mohammad Ali Baryalei, the group's most senior Australian leader.
www.aa.com.tr/en
