Tareq Kamleh 'Dr Jihad' dead: unconfirmed

Perth-born Tareq Kamleh, the Australian known as ‘Dr Jihad’ who has fought alongside Islamic State extremists in Syria since 2015, may be dead, according to unverified reports.

A message “confirming the martyr” of Abu Yousef al-Australi, Kamleh’s ISIS nom de guerre, was posted on an encrypted messenger channel used by Islamic State supporters several hours ago.

The post indicates the 32-year-old Kamleh is dead – though that is unconfirmed. A US-based counter-terror analyst told Nine.com.au there have been several unusual posts on Telegram channels about Kamleh today.

READ MORE: Warning of IS attacks on Australian cities

READ MORE: Bloody war in new frontier of Islamic terrorism

READ MORE: IS 'Beatle' demands trial in West

Blue-eyed Kamleh, a paediatrician who worked in hospitals in Adelaide and Mackay before defecting to Syria, has not been seen for almost one year.

In July last year, Kamleh suddenly surfaced in an ISIS propaganda video where he sat in a dark tunnel, carved underneath the then jihadist-held city of Raqqa.

The heavily-bearded Kamleh was clad in olive combat gear, wore a black tactical vest and brandished an AK-47.

In a carefully choreographed monologue, he derided Muslims living in the West and called for them to join him in Syria, at the time under heavy attack from airstrikes and US-led ground forces.

Kamleh was once something of a poster boy for Islamic State, with an earlier propaganda video featuring the clean shaven doctor in neat hospital scrubs tending children allegedly injured in airstrikes.

His reputation in Australia was less polished.

The doctor's former colleagues had accused him of being lazy and leading a playboy lifestyle while working at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide and Mackay Base Hospital in Queensland.

There is an Australian arrest warrant in Kamleh’s name, and he faces 25 years in prison should he return.

Kamleh had previously sworn he would never come back to Australia, preferring to die instead.