Editorial: Distant wars felt at home

Kadhem Chilab Abbas was killed in Iraq by enemy soldiers.

Terrorism, jihadists and Isis are words that now pollute our language.

Too often we are confronted with horrific images of beheadings, suicide bombers and burning pilots.

The images shock and stun, politicians condemn these acts of brutality and it gets people tweeting their outrage.

Many of us in "little old New Zealand" then forget about the war on terror until the next headline.

Sure the Sydney siege was frighteningly close but it was the work of a lone religious activist with no apparent links to Islamic State.

But terrorism did reach our shores this week, with the news that a Napier refugee had been killed in Iraq.

Kadhem Chilab Abbas, 42, died in an explosion from a rocket believed to be fired by Islamic State terrorists last Friday.

Originally from Basra, Mr Abbas and his family came to New Zealand as refugees in 2003. They settled in Napier before he returned to Iraq in June to volunteer for a civilian army to fight the extremist Islamist group.

His family reached out to Hawke's Bay Today wanting to tell their story about a man they saw as a hero.

They feared for his safety but he was determined to return to Iraq to protect other family members.

His daughter Hanan Khadem Chilab said she did not believe that Isis terrorists were Muslim because they killed women and children. Mr Abbas leaves behind 24 children - 12 in Iraq, 12 in New Zealand - including a 5-month-old daughter he had never met. Hawke's Bay police have offered the family victim support if they choose to use it.

We are now in a global community and cannot ignore terrorism because it creeps ever closer.