The father and son allegedly behind one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings spent nearly the entire month of November in the Philippines, authorities in Manila confirmed Tuesday, with the father entering as an “Indian national”.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who allegedly killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, entered the country on November 1 with the southern province of Davao listed as their final destination.
“Sajid Akram, 50, Indian national, and Naveed Akram, 24, Australian national, arrived in the Philippines together last November 1, 2025 from Sydney, Australia,” immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told AFP.
“Both reported Davao as their final destination. They left the country on November 28, 2025 on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.”
Police and military sources had earlier told reporters they were still in the process of confirming the duo’s presence in the country.
“Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, allegedly committed by a father and son,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said at a news conference.
Police also said the vehicle which is registered to the younger male contained improvised explosive devices and two homemade flags associated with ISIS, or Daesh, a militant group designated by Australia and many other countries as a terrorist organisation.
Videos have emerged of the younger shooter preaching religion outside train stations in suburban Sydney. Authorities are still trying to piece together how he went down the path of violence.
The attack on Sunday was Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
The death toll stands at 16 including Sajid, who was shot by police on spot. The man’s 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice Naveed, was in critical condition in hospital after also being shot.
The 15 victims ranged from a rabbi who was a father of five, to a Holocaust survivor, to a 10-year-old girl named Matilda Britvan, according to interviews, officials and media reports. Two police officers remained in critical but stable condition in hospital, New South Wales police said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday that the two men had likely been radicalised by “Daesh ideology”.
Davao is a large urban center located on the eastern side of Mindanao, the Philippines’ largest southern island. Armed groups are known to be active in economically disadvantaged areas of central and southwestern Mindanao.
The Philippine military, however, said it was unable to promptly verify claims that the two individuals had received “military-style training” during their time in the country, despite earlier reports suggesting otherwise.
Mindanao also has a long history of insurgencies against central government rule.
Pro-Daesh Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants — including foreign and local fighters — held Mindanao’s Marawi under siege in 2017.
The Philippine military wrested back the ruined city after a five-month battle that claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
While insurgent activity in Mindanao has significantly abated in the years since, the Philippine army continues to hunt leaders of groups deemed to be “terrorists”.
A spokesman for the army’s Mindanao-based 6th Infantry Division told AFP on Tuesday that they had heard nothing in recent years about Daesh-linked training camps or foreigners training with local insurgents.
Memorial of flowers
Some 25 survivors are receiving care in several Sydney hospitals, officials said.
Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon visited Bondi on Tuesday and urged the Australian government to take all required steps to secure the lives of Jews in Australia.
“Only Australians of Jewish faith are forced to worship their gods behind closed doors, CCTV, guards,” Maimon told reporters in Bondi, after laying flowers at the temporary memorial and paying his respects to the victims.
“My heart is torn apart … it is insane.”
A string of antisemitic incidents in Australia has unfolded in the past 16 months, prompting the head of the nation’s main intelligence agency to declare that antisemitism was his top priority in terms of threat to life.
At Bondi, the beach was open on Tuesday but was largely empty under overcast skies, as a growing memorial of flowers was established at the Bondi Pavilion, metres from the location of the shootings.
Bondi is Sydney’s best-known beach, located about 8.2 km (5 miles) from the city centre, and draws hundreds of thousands of international tourists each year.
Olivia Robertson, 25, visited the memorial before work.
“This is the country that our grandparents have come to for us to feel safe and to have opportunity,” she said.
“And now this has happened right here in our backyard. It’s pretty shocking.”
Ahmed al Ahmed, the 43-year-old Muslim father-of-two who charged at one of the gunmen and seized his rifle, remains in a Sydney hospital with gunshot wounds. He has been hailed as a hero around the world, including by US President Donald Trump.
A GoFundMe campaign set up for Ahmed has raised more than A$1.9 million ($1.26 million).
