Bondi ‘gunmen’ ‘travelled to Philippines for military-style coaching’ earlier than assault
A senior counterterrorism official has told Australian media that Naveed and Sajid Akram underwent military-style training in the Philippines, a breeding ground for Islamist terror networks
The two Isis-inspired gunmen who opened fire at a Jewish Hanukkah festival on Bondi Beach travelled to the Philippines for “military-style training” in the month before the terror attack, it is claimed.
Sajid Akram, 50, and son Naveed, 24, are said to have travelled to the country – a known breeding ground for Islamic extremism – on November 1 and returned to Australia on November 28, just weeks before carrying out the massacre.
The pair draped an Islamic State flag over the bonnet of their car before firing at a 1,000-strong crowd on Sunday evening as Jewish families celebrated the first day of the eight-day holy festival.
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed the pair arrived in the Philippines from Australia on November 1, declaring the southern city of Davao as their destination.
Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said Sajid entered the country on an Indian passport, while Naveed entered on an Australian passport, adding: “They left the country on November 28 on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.”
Authorities investigating the terrorist attack are now probing their ties to an international jihadist network after a senior counter-terrorism official said the pair underwent militant training in the country, Australian broadcaster ABC reports.
Davao is the capital of Mindanao, the southern island of the Philippines, which has been a hotbed for Islamic militants since the 1990s, when terrorist training camps previously on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were re-established in southern Mindanao.
Muslim insurgents have long sought to carve out an independent state in the island and in 2017, Isis fighters held siege to the city of Marawi for five months. The Philippine government unleashed an all-out war, killing key leaders and forcing combatants to surrender.
But hundreds of Islamic State fighters still remain in the Catholic-majority country, experts say. And they say groups continue to recruit, using local poverty and historical political grievances in Mindanao to radicalise people to join its ranks.
At least 15 people were killed and dozens others injured in Sunday’s horror, which has shocked the world. Among the dead was a girl, ten, called Matilda who had been at a petting zoo minutes earlier.
They parked up near the iconic beach at 6.40pm local time armed with a rifle and shotgun and headed to a bridge over a car park where they began blasting at crowds at the Chanuka by the Sea event.
Aussie PM Anthony Albanese said the pair appeared to have been inspired by Islamic State.
New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon said that IEDs and two homemade IS flags were found in a car registered to Naveed that was parked at the scene. Naveed Akram has awoken from his almost 48-hour coma, police say.
More two million Australian dollars has been raised for have-a-go-hero Ahmed al Ahmed, who was filmed wrestling a gun from one of the gunmen.
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