"That's my boy," reads the caption reportedly posted by Khaled Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist who fled Australia to join the Islamic State militants waging war in Syria and Iraq.
Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the photo on Tuesday.
"Of a 7-year-old child holding a severed head up with pride and with the support and encouragement of a parent, with brothers there," Kerry said. "That child should be in school, that child should be out learning about a future, that child should be playing with other kids, not holding a severed head and out in the field of combat."
WARNING: The following image, while censored, is brutal and graphic.
PM Abbott has denounced a photo of a child believed to be Australian holding a severed head in Syria #TenNews 5pm pic.twitter.com/URGQ2fUsbN
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, also in Australia, commented on the photo on Monday.
“ISIL is a threat to the civilized world, certainly to the United States, to our interests, as it is to Europe, it is to Australia,” Hagel said, according to the Daily Telegraph. “I think reflected on the local newspaper I saw this morning, with the picture on the front page, it’s pretty graphic evidence of the real threat that ISIL represents.”
ISIL is another abbreviation used for the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also condemned the image.
Sharrouf was convicted in Australia on terror-related charges in connection with a 2005 plot and sentenced to five years in prison, the Washington Post reported. Once released, he was forbidden from leaving the country. However, last year, he used his brother's passport to flee, Stuff.co.nz said.
And it appears he's taken his family with him.
Another recent image Sharrouf sent out via social media shows him with three children believed to be his, all in fatigues and holding weapons.
Australian man Khaled Sharrouf and his sons in front of an Islamic State flag in Syria. pic.twitter.com/QSAI8T7rtx
A Yazidi family who fled violence in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar sit at at a school where they are taking shelter in the Kurdish city of Dohuk in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on August 5, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Turkman Shiite women, displaced from the northern Iraqi area of Tal Afar, take shelter in a school in Sadr City, one of Baghdad's northern Shiite-majority districts, on August 5, 2014. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
Yazidi women who fled violence in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar sit at a school where they are taking shelter in Dohuk on August 5, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
Yazidi families who fled violence in northern Iraq are given food at a school where they are taking shelter in Dohuk on August 5, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
A Yazidi family that fled violence in northern Iraq sits at at a school where they are taking shelter in the Kurdish city of Dohuk on August 5, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
An Iraqi Turkman Shiite child displaced from the northern Iraqi area of Tal Afar takes shelter in a school in Sadr City, Baghdad, on August 5, 2014. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Turkmen Shiite families displaced from the northern Iraqi area of Tal Afar take shelter in a school in Sadr City, Baghdad, on August 5, 2014. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Turkmen Shiite children displaced from the northern Iraqi area of Tal Afar take shelter in a school in Sadr City on August 5, 2014. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)
Yazidi women who fled violence in northern Iraq sit at a school where they are taking shelter in Dohuk on August 5, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
A Yazidi girl who fled with her family stands in a school where they are taking shelter in Dohuk on August 5, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
A Yazidi woman who fled violence cries as she stands among other displaced persons in Dohuk on August 5, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the village of Qaraqush rest upon their arrival at the Saint-Joseph church in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on August 7, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the village of Qaraqush rest upon their arrival at the Saint-Joseph church in Arbil on August 7, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the village of Qaraqush rest upon their arrival at the Saint-Joseph church in Arbil on August 7, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the village of Qaraqush rest upon their arrival at the Saint-Joseph church in Arbil on August 7, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
This image made from video taken on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 shows Iraqis people from the Yazidi community arriving in Irbil in northern Iraq after Islamic militants attacked the towns of Sinjar and Zunmar. Around 40 thousand people crossed the bridge of Shela in Fishkhabur into the Northern Kurdish Region of Iraq, after being given an ultimatum by Islamic militants to either convert to Islam, pay a security tax, leave their homes, or die. (AP Photo via AP video)
This image made from video taken on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 shows Iraqis people from the Yazidi community arriving in Irbil in northern Iraq after Islamic militants attacked the towns of Sinjar and Zunmar. Around 40 thousand people crossed the bridge of Shela in Fishkhabur into the Northern Kurdish Region of Iraq, after being given an ultimatum by Islamic militants to either convert to Islam, pay a security tax, leave their homes, or die. (AP Photo via AP video)
This image made from video taken on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 shows Iraqis people from the Yazidi community arriving in Irbil in northern Iraq after Islamic militants attacked the towns of Sinjar and Zunmar. Around 40 thousand people crossed the bridge of Shela in Fishkhabur into the Northern Kurdish Region of Iraq, after being given an ultimatum by Islamic militants to either convert to Islam, pay a security tax, leave their homes, or die. (AP Photo via AP video)
This image made from video taken on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 shows Iraqis people from the Yazidi community after arriving in Irbil in northern Iraq after Islamic militants attacked the towns of Sinjar and Zunmar. Around 40 thousand people crossed the bridge of Shela in Fishkhabur into the Northern Kurdish Region of Iraq, after being given an ultimatum by Islamic militants to either convert to Islam, pay a security tax, leave their homes, or die. (AP Photo via AP video)
This image made from video taken on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 shows Iraqis people from the Yazidi community arriving in Irbil in northern Iraq after Islamic militants attacked the towns of Sinjar and Zunmar. Around 40 thousand people crossed the bridge of Shela in Fishkhabur into the Northern Kurdish Region of Iraq, after being given an ultimatum by Islamic militants to either convert to Islam, pay a security tax, leave their homes, or die. (AP Photo via AP video)
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