Australian Islamic State recruiter's death unlikely to halt flow of fighters

The reported death of Australian terrorist and Islamic State kingpin Mohammad Ali Baryalei is unlikely to disrupt the flow of Australian fighters to Syria and Iraq, authorities have warned.

The former Kings Cross bouncer is believed to have been killed in Syria in recent days although the government was still trying to confirm the social media reports on Wednesday.

A close friend, Abdul Salam Mahmoud, who last saw Baryalei in Syria, posted on Facebook on Tuesday night that he had been "martryed".

"Last time I met him he hugged me very tightly and gave me one advice he told me 'Stick to Qyam Al-Lil/night prayer' then he left to Bilad Al-Sham [Greater Syria]," he said.

"Today we shall celebrate his martyrdom with tears of joy and sorrow."

Baryalei, 33, had been situated on the Turkish-Syrian border since he left Australia in mid-2013, receiving new fighters from Australia and facilitating their passage into Syria to join terrorist groups.

It's believed he had risen to become the most senior Australian in Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS) and had facilitated the movement of up to half of the 60 Australians believed to be fighting with the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

It appeared he had moved into Syria recently and taken up arms, according to photographs that surfaced online.

Mahmoud told Fairfax Media on Wednesday that Baryalei was in Syria "helping to protect the Syrian people ... from the aggressive tyrant and oppression of Bashar [al-Assad] and his regime and he died fulfilling this duty".

"I believe he was trying to help protect the Syrian people with all the means he can, that's all I can comment on the fighting," said Mahmoud, who met Baryalei through the Sydney Street Dawah movement before moving to Syria.

A senior security source said that Baryalei had remained a key recruiter at the Middle East end but there were other important members of the network who could keep the machinery of recruitment going, meaning that Australians could still be sent abroad.

"He is in our view still the primary facilitator but not the only one," the source said.

"I think you'll always find there'll be people who'll step into that void and they'll be people who are probably well known to us, to be honest. They won't be 17- or 18-year-old kids. They'll be charismatic people in their late 20s, early 30s, maybe older and certainly well-known in the community."

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said on Wednesday that the government was seeking to verify reports of Baryalei's death.

Baryalei grew up in Quakers Hill and became a devout Muslim in recent years, growing a beard and assuming a leadership position in the Street Dawah movement, a group of volunteers who proselytise on Sydney's streets.

Dawah members said he was charismatic, influential, outspoken and became an "older brother" to many of the young members, a handful of whom have died in Syria.

He flew to Turkey via Tokyo in April 2013, telling his friends he was going to study sharia for up to five years.

It's alleged that he was the link-man for Sydney-based recruiters such as Hamdi Alqudsi, a St Helen's Park pensioner who has been charged with recruiting seven young men to fight in Syria.

Baryalei quickly rose through the ranks of al-Qaeda-aligned group Jubhat al-Nusra and then Islamic State, however he remained in contact with many Dawah members in Sydney, including Omarjan Azari, who was charged last month with conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

Police allege he spoke to Baryalei via phone often and was allegedly told to behead a random person in Sydney's CBD.

His mother, Homira, left her Quakers Hill home on Wednesday to stay with a family member.

Mrs Baryalei was distraught when she found out her son had gone to fight for IS, a neighbour said.

"When she first found out she was in denial. Then it dawned on her," the neighbour said.

Up until a year ago, Baryalei would still check in with his mother every month, they said.

"Then after the raids he stopped ringing all together."

with Eryk Bagshaw