'I am responsible,' says father of Australian jihadist bomber

The heartbroken father of an Australian schoolboy believed to have died while carrying out a suicide bombing for Islamic State said on Monday he felt "totally responsible" for failing to see that his son needed help.

Jake Bilardi, 18, from Melbourne, is believed to have carried out the attack in Iraq earlier this month, after allegedly ditching plans for attacks on home soil.

Speaking to the media for the first time since his son's death, John Bilardi said Jake had been "a prize, a trophy" to the jihadists who "used him for their own cause".