Bondi Suspects' Trip to Philippines Raises Questions

Investigators are tracing a quiet monthlong stay in the southern Philippines by the Bondi Beach attack suspects, asking whether the trip has any link to Sunday's alleged ISIS-inspired shooting in Sydney. Australian authorities say 24-year-old Naveed Akram and his 50-year-old father, Sajid, flew from Sydney to the Philippines on Nov. 1 and headed to Davao, a gateway city to the island of Mindanao, long associated with Islamist insurgencies. Hotel staff at the budget GV Hotel in Davao say the two checked in for a week and then extended their stay, remaining in their room for all but an hour each day. "They weren't approachable like other foreigners," a front-desk worker told NBC News. Local police have visited the hotel and requested security footage.

The pair returned to Sydney late last month. Sajid Akram was shot dead by police during Sunday's attack on a Hanukkah event that left 15 people dead, while his son has been charged with terrorism and murder after emerging from a coma. New South Wales police say the trip did not trigger security alerts at the time, though Australian counterterrorism officials had previously investigated the younger Akram in 2019 over possible extremist ties. Two ISIS flags were later found in his car, suggesting, one analyst said, that the men "clearly wanted to be seen" as acting on the group's behalf.

Philippine officials strongly dispute suggestions the Akrams received training there. "The duration of their stay would not have allowed for any meaningful or structured training," national security adviser Eduardo Año said Wednesday, adding there's "no evidence that they went outside Davao," per NBC and the Guardian. He also called depictions of Mindanao as a terrorism hot spot "outdated." Security experts broadly agree that while pockets of ISIS-aligned militants remain in Mindanao, their numbers and capabilities are low following a 2020 anti-terror law. Still, analysts say the Akrams could have used the trip to meet individuals they saw as ideological leaders, a question now central to ongoing investigations in both countries.