Father and son flew to the Philippines for 'military-style training with terrorist group' weeks before Bondi massacre
By SARAH BROOKES - SENIOR REPORTER, AUSTRALIA and NICHOLAS COMINO, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA
Published: 00:08 EST, 16 December 2025 | Updated: 08:48 EST, 16 December 2025
A senior counter-terrorism official has revealed Sajid and Naveed Akram underwent military-style training overseas just weeks before the pair allegedly opened fire at the Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.
The father and son travelled to the Philippines in November, a region that has been a hotspot for Islamist militants since the early 1990s, when terrorist training camps relocated from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to southern Mindanao.
Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, arrived from Sydney on November 1 and left on November 28, a Bureau of Immigration spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.
Sajid travelled on an Indian passport while Naveed used his Australian passport.
The southern Philippines has long been controlled by Abu Sayyaf, a violent group known for bombings, assassinations, extortion, and kidnappings for ransom.
For years, it was also a main training base for Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiah, the group behind the Bali bombings that killed 202 people including 88 Australians.
In January, the Australian government provided Philippine law enforcement agencies in Mindanao with new facilities, including a bomb data centre and forensic explosives laboratory to combat terrorism and improve security.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told the ABC that investigators are now probing the Akrams' ties to an international jihadist network after discovering the pair flew from Davao to Manila, before flying back to Sydney on November 28.
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