The US-led taskforce conducting air strikes on Islamic State has confirmed four targets were hit in the past week near Raqqa, in northern Syria, where Australian fighter Mohamed Elomar has reportedly been killed.
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said on Wednesday there was “a high degree of certainty” that Elomar had been in one of the vehicles targeted in strikes around the Isis stronghold on 18 and 19 June.
“We’re still seeking to confirm whether Mr [Khaled] Sharrouf was in the same vehicle or motorcade,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the Kuwait-based taskforce told AAP on Wednesday she was unable to confirm the men’s deaths. But she acknowledged four strikes near Raqqa – one on 18 June that destroyed two vehicles, and another two the next day that hit two vehicles and a motorcycle.
The taskforce did not say whether a manned vehicle or drone conducted the air strikes, but the fact they took place in Syria rules out the involvement of Australian fighter jets, which conduct strike missions only over Iraq.
Sharrouf’s mother-in-law, Karen Nettleton, released a statement on Wednesday revealing a “messenger” had appeared at her door, and “told me that the man my 13-year-old granddaughter was forced to marry, Mohamed Elomar, was dead”.
“I was also told that Khaled Sharrouf, my daughter’s husband, was missing and presumed dead,” she said.
Sources have told Guardian Australia that Sharrouf’s immediate family were not aware of the news until it was reported on Monday.
Nettleton has appealed to the federal government to allow Sharrouf’s wife, Tara, and their children to return to Australia. “I don’t want my daughter and grandchildren to be collateral damage in this shameful and tragic war,” she said.
Abbott said on Wednesday morning he sympathised with Sharrouf’s children “on one level”, but did not say how they would specifically be dealt with.
“Look, I suppose at one level, yes, but on the other hand, we have to appreciate the scale of the evil which is being practised here. And that’s the thing, we will act to protect our country,” he told the Nine Network.
The children of criminals would be “dealt with in the same way [they] are usually dealt with”, he said.
Legislation to strip alleged terrorists of their citizenship, introduced into parliament on Wednesday, noted the penalty would also extend to the children of the accused.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, is yet to confirm whether Labor would support the measure.
“As a parent I wouldn’t feel comfortable with these children reinserting in a playground with my children or anyone else’s children. But I reckon the sins of the father should not be visited [on the children] and treated as the sins of the children,” he said.
