Sydney, ‘IS hub’ in Philippines and then Bondi Beach: Shooter Sajid Akram's trail of terror

Sajid and Naveed Akram returned to Sydney from Davao just around two weeks before the deadly mass shooting at Bondi Beach on December 14.

Sajid Akram, and his son, Naveed Akram, who killed 15 people in a mass shooting attack at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's popular Bondi Beach in Australia on Sunday, had travelled to a southern Philippines region, Davao City, in November.

While Sajid Akram was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, Naveed Akram is in a hospital under police guard. (X/timeswmariana/clashreport)

The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration confirmed the father-son duo's travel history to Davao City on November 1, 2025, from Sydney. Hours later, Telangana police confirmed that Sajid Akram was originally from Hyderabad and had migrated to Australia in 1998, adding that he, however, carried an Indian passport, HT reported earlier.

Sajid Akram, 50, and his son, Naveed Akram, 24, had opened fire with rifles on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people and injuring another 42. While Sajid was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, Naveed is in a hospital under police guard.

Dana Sandoval, a spokesperson for the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration, said: “Sajid Akram, 50, Indian national (Australian resident), and Naveed Akram, 24, Australian national, arrived in the Philippines together last November 1, 2025, from Sydney, Australia.”

She added, “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.”

While Sajid travelled on an Indian passport, his son Naveed used an Australian passport for their trip to the Philippines.

Sajid and Naveed, aboard a Philippine Airlines flight, landed in Davao City, located about 225 km by road from Maguindanao and roughly 195 km from Lanao del Sur, known as hotspots for Islamic State-linked groups and other militant groups such as Abu Sayyaf.

The duo flew in on the same flight from Sydney to Manila to Davao, and left on November 28 via the same route, Reuters reported, citing immigration records. They returned to Sydney just two weeks before carrying out Australia's deadliest terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on Sunday, December 14.

Philippine authorities, however, said they don't have any information yet on what the duo did during their nearly month-long stay in the country.

Southern Philippines: A centre of IS activity

Sajid and Naveed Akram's visit to Davao gains significance against the backdrop that it is the largest city on the island of Mindanao and is considered the gateway to the southern Philippines, which remains a centre of Islamic State activity.

In 2017, Islamic State fighters besieged the city of Marawi in Mindanao for five months, and the government launched a massive military operation to root them out.

The southern Mindanao region, disturbed by Islamist separatists, communist rebels and warlords for decades, has been a fertile ground for the Islamic State's ideology.

It is the only region in the largely Catholic Philippines that has a significant Muslim minority.

Southern Mindanao's rugged terrain and porous borders have built a convenient environment for foreign fighters seeking training with IS-linked factions and groups like Abu Sayyaf.

Professor Greg Barton, a terrorism expert at Deakin University, said Mindanao had long been a hotbed for grassroots insurgency activities, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Baron said that these activities eventually morphed into jihadi extremism, initially with links to al-Qaeda and then the Islamic State after 2014.

"Davao is the largest city on Mindanao, and you can easily go by road to western Mindanao, where there are Islamic State people,” Barton was quoted as saying.

He further stated that though the Philippine government has been very good at cracking down on these militant/terror training camps, he is sure "there are small groups operating discreetly in the hills in the jungles".

A 2023 report from the US State Department titled 'Country reports on terrorism' said that the Philippines "remained a destination for foreign terrorist fighters from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Middle East, and Europe".

It said that the continued ability of terror organisations to operate in the southern Philippines reflected the "centuries-long challenge of governing effectively in the country's more remote areas and establishing consistent security in a region characterised by a strong separatist identity, endemic poverty, and religious differences, as well as dense jungle terrain that allows for elusive terrorist movement."

In 2024, Armed Forces chief General Romeo Brawner Jr said that they had not detected any foreign terrorists operating in the country, crediting sustained counter-terrorism operations.

However, Rommel Banlaoi, an antiterrorism expert in the Philippines, said that while the threat of terrorism had declined, it was not disappearing.

Militant groups operating in the Philippines

According to the Philippine military and security officials, several militant groups remain active, though significantly weakened.

Abu Sayyaf, known for its notorious kidnappings and bombings, has been neutralised, with most of its members having surrendered, Reuters reported, citing an army spokesperson.

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, remains operational in Maguindanao but has been weakened by raids and surrenders, the spokesperson added.

The official further stated that the Maute Group, also known as Daulah Islamiyah, has been reduced to a "manageable number" and is now absconding.

ISIS-East Asia, a rough network of groups that have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, has around 300-500, mostly Filipino and some foreign, fighters who have carried out periodic attacks in Mindanao, the report stated.

Additionally, a decades-old communist insurgency, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army, has its presence in some rural areas.