Bondi terror attack: Father and son terrorists spent month in overseas ISIS hotspot

The father and son terrorists responsible for the Bondi Beach attack returned from a holiday to the extremist hotspot Philippines on November 30 - two weeks before their rampage.

Bondi Shooting. Picture: X

The father and son terrorists allegedly responsible for the Bondi Beach attack that claimed 15 lives had spent a month in the Philippines in the lead up their massacre, one of the world’s top extremist hotspots.

Why Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, were in the Asian nation and who they saw is now a top line of inquiry for NSW Police, the AFP and ASIO.

Police sources told The Daily Telegraph the father and son had gone together, without any other family, to the South East Asian nation that has been a “well trodden path” for Islamic extremism.

Fresh footage shows two gunmen opening fire in Bondi on December 14, 2025, with the attack killing 16 people and injuring dozens more.

The gunmen, one dressed in white pants and a black shirt, and the other entirely clad in black.

“There’s areas down there that are very dangerous... (with) training camps and the like,” a senior source said.

“It has become a well trodden path for Islamic State through South East Asia and into the Philippines ever since 2019.”

Police sources said early indications were that the Akrams had allegedly “self radicalised”, but were still investigating the possibility that overseas influences had recently hardened their views.

The Philippines last year ranked as the 20th most dangerous nation in the world on the Global Terrorism Index, with 22 terror attacks in 2024, while Australia was listed among countries said to have experienced a “sharp increase in antisemitic violence and hate crimes”.

The Akrams returned to Australia just weeks before they allegedly opened fire on a Jewish gathering of roughly 1,000 people, until police arrived and shot Sajid dead and wounded Naveed.

Authorities are understood to have begun carrying out checks at the homes of known associates of the pair on Monday afternoon, as part of their investigations under Operation Arques.

Naveed had allegedly been previously assessed as posing a “low level” counter terrorism threat after popping up on the “periphery” of a counter terrorism investigation in October 2019, according to sources.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on Monday that Naveed had come to the attention of the ASIO back then, but said that was “with respect to his associations” rather than his own “personal motivations”.

“The son... was examined on the basis of being associated with others and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Mr Albanese said.

Two shooters caught at Bondi Beach. Picture: X

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed Sajid arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa and transferred to a partner visa in 2001, while Naveed was an Australian born citizen.

Police allegedly discovered an Islamic State-linked flag inside a small silver Hyundai car used by the terrorists to drive to Bondi.

While their venture to the Philippines is under investigation, so too are their travels closer to home - including a sharehouse the pair had rented in Campsie in recent days.

Police believe the property, where rooms are rented for $90-a-night, was used as a base for the attack.

That home, and their usual residential address in Bonnyrigg, were raided by heavily-armed tactical police on Sunday night, into the early hours of Monday.

Sajid Akram was known to have a firearms licence and was a holder of six guns, all of which police have since seized across both the scene at Bondi Beach and Campsie properties.

He had received his gun licence in 2015 and is understood to have renewed it in 2020.

Photos of Naveed’s wallet that circulated on social media on Sunday also showed a membership card for the Zastava Hunting Association - a gun club in Bonnyrigg, near their home.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon had ruled out the possibility a third man was on the run by Monday morning, with the extensive phone vision circulating on social media believed to have led to the confusion.

One of the suspected gunmen at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Picture: X

Mr Lanyon said despite intelligence holdings on the Akrams, no authorities had any belief an attack was a possibility.

“There was no indication to indicate that either of the men involved in yesterday’s attack was planning the attack that happened yesterday,” he said.

“We’ve got investigators that have been working around the clock. I’m incredibly proud of the work that has been undertaken so far.

“We want to get to the bottom of this.

“We want to understand the motives behind it. We certainly want to understand the actions that have happened.

“We want to understand whether these people were further involved in any offences, but we have no history to say that’s the case.”

Premier Chris Minns said it was “almost certain” the government would look at changing gun laws in the wake of what is Australia’s worst shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which saw 35 people killed.

“We’re in the early stages of this investigation. NSW Police need to provide all the details of this inquiry to the government, but I made it clear night that we’ll take every step possibly can to keep our community safe, and we’ll be looking at law reform along that route,” Mr Minns said.

Police quickly mobilised in the hours after the attack, with heavily-armed officers raiding the family home at Bonnyrigg late on Sunday night, before a few hours later moving on to the Campsie Airbnb.

One local on the Campsie street told being startled about 12.30am by police using a megaphone, demanding for anyone inside the short term rental to emerge.

“It’s so freaky to think, we were watching the events unfold at Bondi, and then a couple of hours later there are police outside our house,” he said.

“This is going to change Australia forever.”

Originally published as Bondi terror attack: Father and son terrorists spent month in overseas ISIS hotspot