Australian teen may have carried out suicide bombing for ISIS - WECT TV6-WECT.com:News, weather & sports Wilmington, NC

Australian teen may have carried out suicide bombing for ISIS

Australian teen Jake Bilardi, center, left the country to join ISIS several months ago. (Source: Facebook/CNN) Australian teen Jake Bilardi, center, left the country to join ISIS several months ago. (Source: Facebook/CNN)
ISIS says a photo, taken moments before a suicide bombing, shows Jake in the van before it exploded. (Source: ISIS/CNN) ISIS says a photo, taken moments before a suicide bombing, shows Jake in the van before it exploded. (Source: ISIS/CNN)
As many as 90 Australians are fighting for ISIS in Iraq and Syria. (Source; ISIS/CNN) As many as 90 Australians are fighting for ISIS in Iraq and Syria. (Source; ISIS/CNN)

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(CNN) – The Australian government is trying to confirm reports that an Australian teenager carried out a suicide attack for ISIS in Iraq.

ISIS says one of the men seen in their video is 18-year-old Jake Bilardi, and that he detonated a suicide bomb in the city of Ramadi.

A photo, which ISIS says was taken moments before the attack, appears to show Jake in a van before it exploded.

The Melbourne teen went to Iraq and Syria last August, according to Australia's foreign minister.

Authorities say at least 90 Australians are in Iraq and Syria, fighting for ISIS. At least 20 have been killed.

"This is a horrific situation, an absolutely horrific situation, and it shows the lure of this death cult to impressionable youngsters," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.

And often, those most vulnerable are at risk. Days before the attack Bilardi's aunt, Connie Bilardi, had this to say about why she thought her nephew had joined ISIS.

"He's just a young boy that went looking for something after he lost someone very, very dear to him, his mother," Bilardi said.

A long-time friend, who didn't want to be identified, tells CNN that the teenager was a soccer fan, who supported the Chelsea football club.

But the friend says he noticed exchanges in his behavior about two years ago, when he started posting extremist propaganda material on his Facebook page.

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