Naveed Akram, 24, and his father Sajid target people at Bondi Beach on Sunday. (Instagram)
In short:
A senior counterterrorism official has told the ABC Naveed and Sajid Akram underwent military-style training in the southern Philippines last month.
The Philippines has been a hotspot for Islamist militants since the early 1990s, when terrorist training camps previously on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were re-established in southern Mindanao.
The father and son returned to Australia late last month, just weeks before the Bondi Beach massacre.
Father-son gunmen Sajid and Naveed Akram travelled to the Philippines to receive "military-style training" in the month before they killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, security sources have confirmed.
Through a lawyer, Mr Haddad has said he "vehemently denies any knowledge of or involvement in the shootings that took place at Bondi Beach".
Investigators are now examining the Akrams' ties to an international jihadist network, after discovering the pair travelled to Manila in early November, according to officials briefed on the investigation.
Naveed and Sajid Akram then journeyed to the southern Philippines and underwent militant training, said a senior counter-terrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed the pair arrived in the Philippines from Australia on November 1, declaring the southern city of Davao as their destination.
"They left the country on November 28, 2025, on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination," Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.
Ms Sandoval said Sajid Akram entered the country on an Indian passport, while his son, Naveed Akram, entered on an Australian passport.
Davao is the capital of Mindanao, the southern island of the Philippines, which has been a hotbed for Islamic militants since the 1990s.
Security sources have not confirmed the pair's exact locations and movements in the southern Philippines.
Australia's intelligence agency, ASIO, had investigated Naveed Akram in 2019 over his associations with members of a Sydney-based IS terrorist cell, the ABC revealed yesterday.
A senior security source said Naveed Akram, then 18, displayed "indications of intent" and associations of concern that were investigated by ASIO in 2019, but further enquiries were not deemed to be needed at the time.
The men were not on a terrorism watchlist in the lead-up to the attack, nor was Sajid Akram — a licensed gun owner — prevented from legally accessing firearms.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was asked on Radio National today whether the pair's travel to the Philippines had come to the attention of Australia's national security agencies, but he did not directly answer the question.
Mr Burke said that since ASIO's 2019 investigation into Naveed Akram, "there was a radical change in the risk profile of that individual".