The father and son duo suspected of finishing up a massacre at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on Sunday were “driven 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 two 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 predicted to face important prices.
Australian counterterrorism official imagine the pair underwent military-style coaching whereas within the southern Philippines final month, public broadcaster ABC reported on Tuesday.
Two do-it-yourself Islamic State flags were 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 risk, police mentioned.
Authorities say the gunmen focused Jewish Australians celebrating the primary evening of the competition Hanukkah. The assault, which killed 15 people, is within the nation’s worst mass shooting in virtually 30 years.
There is presently no proof to recommend there were any extra people concerned, police mentioned.
Here’s what we all know thus far in regards to the suspects.
The shooting seems to have been impressed by extremist “Islamic State ideology,” in keeping with Australian chief Anthony Albanese.
New South Wales police mentioned on Tuesday that the car registered to the youthful suspect contained improvised explosive gadgets – and two do-it-yourself ISIS flags.
Albanese mentioned the proof of the flags confirmed that the “radical perversion of Islam is absolutely a problem” each within the nation and across the globe.
Authorities imagine the 2 males “weren’t part of a wider cell,” serving to them to evade detection, Albanese informed public broadcaster ABC.
But the youthful suspect was beforehand recognized to federal safety providers.
The son was investigated for six months by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2019 “because of his connections with two people who subsequently … went to jail,” Albanese mentioned. But that investigation concluded there was “no evidence” he had been radicalized.
The 24-year-old was not topic to ongoing monitoring after the probe ended, however authorities are now investigating “whether he was radicalized further after that,” Albanese mentioned.
The father, a licensed gun proprietor, was interviewed as a part of that 2019 investigation, but additionally 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, of course, has been around for a very long period of time – that’s the point. Islamic State is an ideology that, tragically, over the last decade, particularly since 2015, has led to a radicalization of some people to this extreme position, and it is a hateful action,” Albanese mentioned.
An imam who supplied Quran classes to Naveed Akram informed NCS 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 without any hesitation,” Sheikh Adam Ismail mentioned in a video message.
“Not everyone who recites the Quran understands it or lives by its teachings, and sadly, this appears to be the case here,” he added.
Police are now investigating a visit the Akrams took final month to the Philippines, as they attempt to work out how the duo were radicalized.
“The reasons why they went to the Philippines and the purpose of that and where they went when they were there is under investigation at the moment,” 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 believe it was an intelligence failure at all,” he mentioned.
Philippine authorities confirmed to NCS on Tuesday that the Akrams arrived collectively on November 1, 2025. They listed their ultimate vacation spot as Davao –– a significant metropolis on the southern Island of Mindanao – and left the nation from Manila on November 28, in keeping with the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation.
Mindanao, the second-largest island within the Philippines has long been wracked by terrorism and unrest.
It is dwelling to a number of Islamist rebel teams, together with Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for a variety of assaults on civilians and Philippine authorities troops, in addition to the kidnapping of a number of international nationals.
In 2017, Abu Sayyaf – together with the Maute group, one other Mindanao-based militant group – captured and occupied Marawi, the nation’s greatest Muslim-majority metropolis. The violence pressured greater than 350,000 residents to flee town and the encircling areas earlier than Philippine forces liberated 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 principle Islamic State group, on its website.
“ISEA remains a deadly terrorist threat in the Philippines, with the Southeast Asia country a target destination for foreign terrorist fighters,” reads the ASIO web site. “While there are no known links between ISEA and Australia, there have previously been links between Australians and terrorist groups in 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 keeping with native media stories.
Naveed Akram was born in Australia, whereas his father, Sajid, immigrated to the nation in 1998, Home Affairs minister Tony Burke mentioned on Monday. The elder Akram arrived on a pupil visa, and later transferred to a associate visa in 2001.
Indian authorities confirmed Tuesday that Sajid Akram was initially from the southern Indian metropolis of Hyderabad.
In the years since then, he had taken simply three journeys abroad, returning on a resident return visa every time, mentioned Burke.
Officials wouldn’t verify Sajid Akram’s nation of origin. When requested on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned that info was “part of the investigation … So, I can’t go into that detail.”
The Philippines immigration bureau confirmed Sajid Akram was touring on an Indian passport, and his son Naveed was touring on an Australian passport. NCS 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. Some of these were 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 criteria for a firearms license” and held a “recreational hunting 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 club” — 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 software 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 we have seized were attached to that license appropriately,” Lanyon mentioned.
Footage of Naveed Akram shooting at crowds from the pedestrian bridge overlooking Bondi Beach and verified by NCS confirmed he was proficient at utilizing a bolt motion rifle, firing off 4 rounds in simply over 5 seconds.