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The father and son duo who carried out the Bondi mass shooting on Dec. 14 travelled to the southern Philippines in November, a hotbed for ISIS activity.
According to the Filipino Bureau of Immigration, Naveed Akram, 24, and his late father, Sajid Akram, 50, flew to Davao City in the Mindanao region, and remained in the country from Nov. 1 to 28.
As The Epoch Times reported earlier, the younger Akram had links to members of Australia’s pro-Islamic State network—including jihadist preacher Wisam Haddad and convicted IS youth recruiter Youssef Uweinat—dating back to 2019.
However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the public broadcaster on Nov. 15 that security agencies made the judgement that Akram’s activity did not justify his inclusion on a terrorist watchlist.
Two Islamic State flags were found in the Akrams’ car at Bondi Beach, and investigators say they believe the pair had sworn allegiance to the terrorist group.
Numerous comments on social media footage of the shooters, who both used bolt-action rifles (speculated to have been a Beretta BRX1), have focused on the speed of reloading and firing, commenting that an “amateur” could not achieve the rate observed.
According to a report by the Office of the U.S. Inspector General (pdf) since ISIS branding began to be used by Islamist groups in the Philippines from around 2014, there have been a number of attacks in the southern region consistent with Islamic State tactics, including suicide bombings, IEDs (improvised explosive devices), coordinated urban assaults and hostage-taking.
The West Point Combating Terrorism Centre and International Crisis Group papers document the growth of an ISIS presence in Mindanao and refer to bases, camps and coordinated training activity among pro-ISIS groups.
The U.S. State Department Country Reports on Terrorism list ISIS-aligned elements and note continued violent operations and training-style activity in the southern Philippines.
However, Islamic terrorist training camps in the Philippines don’t resemble large, clearly marked, permanent training camps run by ISIS in Iraq or Syria but are instead described as jungle camps, remote farms and even caves, with facilities that can be easily relocated (pdf, page 31).
The 2017 Marawi siege is the clearest manifestation of an ISIS presence in the Philippines, when militants held and tried to govern parts of a major city for five months and drew on foreign fighters and training to mount urban warfare.
Since that incident, Philippine security forces, with international support, have carried out sustained counter-insurgency and counter-terror operations and launched efforts to clear camps, interdict training sites and capture leaders.
Rex Widerstrom is a New Zealand-based reporter with over 40 years of experience in media, including radio and print. He is currently a presenter for Hutt Radio.
