PHILIPPINE SECURITY CHIEF REJECTS REPORTS OF BONDI SHOOTERS’ TRAINING IN SOUTHERN REGIONS

Thu 18 December 2025:

Manila’s national security adviser has stated that there is no proof the alleged shooters in the fatal Bondi Beach shooting underwent military training in the southern Philippines, while Australia revealed intentions to strengthen its hate speech legislation.

In a Wednesday statement, Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano confirmed the two suspects in Sunday’s attack in Sydney, Australia – which saw 15 people killed after gunmen opened fire at a Jewish event – were in the country from November 1 to 28 this year.

Ano said immigration records showed that 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram travelled via the Philippine capital Manila to Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao. He added that Sajid had entered the country on an Indian passport, while Naveed entered on an Australian one.

Ano added that there was “no evidence” that the men had received “any form of military training” while in the country.

“A mere visit does not support allegations of terrorist training, and the duration of their stay would not have allowed for any meaningful or structured training,” he said.

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The men mostly stayed in their hotel rooms when in Davao, according to a report by local news outlet MindaNews. Staff at the hotel said the pair checked in on November 1 and rarely went out for more than an hour at a time during their almost monthlong stay.

Australian authorities announced on Wednesday that Naveed Akram had been charged with 59 offences for his role in the attack, including murder and terror charges, when he woke from his coma. Sajid Akram, his father, was shot dead by police at the scene.

Ano also suggested that reports describing Mindanao – home to most of the Catholic-majority country’s Muslim population, plagued by a decades-long secessionist conflict – as a “hotspot for violent extremism or Islamic State ideology” were “outdated and misleading”.

“Since the 2017 Marawi Siege, Philippine security forces have significantly degraded ISIS-affiliated groups in the country,” he said, referring to a five-month battle in which the ISIL-inspired Maute group seized the southern city and fought government forces.

“The remnants of these groups have been fragmented, deprived of leadership, and operationally degraded,” Ano added.

A 2014 peace agreement, which saw rebels drop their secessionist aspirations in exchange for a more powerful and better-funded Muslim autonomous region called Bangsamoro, has also brought a degree of calm to Mindanao.

But smaller rebel groups continue to carry out sporadic, deadly attacks across the restive southern Philippines’ region.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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