The daddy and son duo suspected of finishing up a bloodbath at Sydney’s famed Bondi Seaside on Sunday have been “pushed by Islamic state ideology,” police say, as Philippines authorities confirmed the pair lately traveled to part of that nation which has lengthy been a hotbed of extremism.
The 2 males are 50-year-old Sajid Akram, who was killed exchanging gunfire with police; and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, who’s in custody on the hospital and is anticipated to face vital costs.
Australian counterterrorism official imagine the pair underwent military-style coaching whereas within the southern Philippines final month, public broadcaster ABC reported on Tuesday.
Two home made Islamic State flags have been present in a car registered to the youthful suspect, who was beforehand assessed by the nation’s home safety company and deemed to not be a menace, police mentioned.
Authorities say the gunmen focused Jewish Australians celebrating the primary night time of the pageant Hanukkah. The assault, which killed 15 folks, is within the nation’s worst mass taking pictures in nearly 30 years.
There may be presently no proof to counsel there have been any extra people concerned, police mentioned.
Right here’s what we all know up to now in regards to the suspects.
The taking pictures seems to have been impressed by extremist “Islamic State ideology,” in accordance with Australian chief Anthony Albanese.
New South Wales police mentioned on Tuesday that the car registered to the youthful suspect contained improvised explosive units – and two home made ISIS flags.
Albanese mentioned the proof of the flags confirmed that the “radical perversion of Islam is completely an issue” each within the nation and across the globe.
Authorities imagine the 2 males “weren’t a part of a wider cell,” serving to them to evade detection, Albanese advised public broadcaster ABC.
However the youthful suspect was beforehand identified to federal safety providers.
The son was investigated for six months by the Australian Safety Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2019 “due to his connections with two individuals who subsequently … went to jail,” Albanese mentioned. However that investigation concluded there was “no proof” he had been radicalized.
The 24-year-old was not topic to ongoing monitoring after the probe ended, however authorities are actually investigating “whether or not he was radicalized additional after that,” Albanese mentioned.
The daddy, a licensed gun proprietor, was interviewed as a part of that 2019 investigation, but in addition confirmed “no indication of any radicalization,” Albanese added. He mentioned he didn’t know if authorities questioned whether or not the daddy possessed weapons on the time.
“Antisemitism, after all, has been round for a really lengthy time frame – that’s the purpose. Islamic State is an ideology that, tragically, during the last decade, significantly since 2015, has led to a radicalization of some folks to this excessive place, and it’s a hateful motion,” Albanese mentioned.
An imam who offered Quran classes to Naveed Akram advised CNN the 24-year-old had approached the Al Murad Institute for classes on Quran recitation and Arabic language in 2019. He continued his classes for a 12 months.
“I condemn this act of violence with none hesitation,” Sheikh Adam Ismail mentioned in a video message.
“Not everybody who recites the Quran understands it or lives by its teachings, and sadly, this seems to be the case right here,” he added.
Police are actually investigating a visit the Akrams took final month to the Philippines, as they attempt to work out how the duo have been radicalized.
“The explanation why they went to the Philippines and the aim of that and the place they went after they have been there’s underneath investigation in the intervening time,” mentioned Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner within the state of New South Wales, on Tuesday.
Lanyon mentioned he was not conscious of any safety alert being triggered when the pair travelled. “I don’t imagine it was an intelligence failure in any respect,” he mentioned.
Philippine authorities confirmed to CNN on Tuesday that the Akrams arrived collectively on November 1, 2025. They listed their closing vacation spot as Davao –– a serious metropolis on the southern Island of Mindanao – and left the nation from Manila on November 28, in accordance with the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation.
Mindanao, the second-largest island within the Philippines has lengthy been wracked by terrorism and unrest.
It’s dwelling to a number of Islamist rebel teams, together with Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for quite a lot of assaults on civilians and Philippine authorities troops, in addition to the kidnapping of a number of overseas nationals.
In 2017, Abu Sayyaf – together with the Maute group, one other Mindanao-based militant group – captured and occupied Marawi, the nation’s largest Muslim-majority metropolis. The violence pressured greater than 350,000 residents to flee the town and the encompassing areas earlier than Philippine forces liberated the town after a bloody months-long siege.
ASIO, Australia’s nationwide safety company, describes the Philippines as a hotspot for the Islamic State East Asia (ISEA), an offshoot of the primary Islamic State group, on its web site.
“ISEA stays a lethal terrorist menace within the Philippines, with the Southeast Asia nation a goal vacation spot for overseas terrorist fighters,” reads the ASIO web site. “Whereas there aren’t any identified hyperlinks between ISEA and Australia, there have beforehand been hyperlinks between Australians and terrorist teams within the Philippines.”
The Akrams are believed to have lived within the western Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg. A house linked to the pair was raided by police on Monday. Naveed Akram had labored as a bricklayer, whereas Sajid ran a fruit store, in accordance with native media reviews.
Naveed Akram was born in Australia, whereas his father, Sajid, immigrated to the nation in 1998, Dwelling Affairs minister Tony Burke mentioned on Monday. The elder Akram arrived on a pupil visa, and later transferred to a companion visa in 2001.
Within the years since then, he had taken simply three journeys abroad, returning on a resident return visa every time, mentioned Burke.
Officers wouldn’t affirm Sajid Akram’s nation of origin. When requested on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned that info was “a part of the investigation … So, I can’t go into that element.”
The Philippines immigration bureau confirmed Sajid Akram was touring on an Indian passport, and his son Naveed was touring on an Australian passport. CNN has reached out to India’s exterior affairs ministry for remark.
Police seized six weapons owned by Sajid Akram, who had a gun license, following the assaults. A few of these have been discovered throughout raids on two properties linked to the pair — one on the Bonnyrigg dwelling, and the opposite at an AirBnb within the suburb of Campsie, the place the pair stayed within the days main as much as the assault.
Lanyon mentioned Sajid Akram “met the eligibility standards for a firearms license” and held a “leisure looking license.”
There are two kinds of looking licenses, Lanyon mentioned: the flexibility to hunt on a property or as a part of a looking membership — or “gun membership” — which is the kind of license the suspect held.
On Tuesday, Lanyon mentioned Sajid had initially utilized for a firearms license in 2015, however his utility lapsed in 2016 after he failed to offer a photograph as required. He utilized a second time in 2020, and the license was issued in 2023.
“The firearms that now we have seized have been connected to that license appropriately,” Lanyon mentioned.
Footage of Naveed Akram taking pictures at crowds from the pedestrian bridge overlooking Bondi Seaside and verified by CNN confirmed he was proficient at utilizing a bolt motion rifle, firing off 4 rounds in simply over 5 seconds.
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