MANILA: The Philippines said Wednesday there was no evidence that the country was being used for terrorist training, a day after it was revealed the men behind Australia&#39;s Bondi Beach mass shooting had spent November on a southern island known for Islamist insurgencies.&nbsp;&quot;(President Ferdinand Marcos) strongly rejects the sweeping statement and the misleading characterisation of the Philippines as the ISIS training hotspot,&quot; presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro said at a press briefing.&nbsp;&quot;No evidence has been presented to support claims that the country was used for terrorist training,&quot; she added, reading from a National Security Council statement.&nbsp;&quot;There is no validated report or confirmation that individuals involved in the Bondi Beach incident received any form of training in the Philippines.&quot;&nbsp;On Tuesday, the country&#39;s immigration office confirmed that Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney&#39;s Bondi Beach, entered the country on November 1 headed for the southern province of Davao.&nbsp;The island of Mindanao, where Davao is located, has a long history of Islamist insurgencies against central government rule.&nbsp;Australian authorities are investigating whether the two men met with extremists during their <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/bondi-beach-shooters-arrived-as-indian-nationals-philippine-immigration" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Philippines trip</a>.&nbsp;The Philippine military, however, said Wednesday that armed Muslim groups still operating on Mindanao had been largely degraded in the years since the siege of Marawi.&nbsp;The five-month battle for the city that pitted government forces against pro-Islamic State Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.&nbsp;&quot;We have not recorded any major terrorist operations or training activities &hellip; since the beginning of 2024,&quot; Philippine military spokeswoman Colonel Francel Padilla said at a morning press briefing.&nbsp;&quot;They are fragmented, and they have no leadership,&quot; she added of the insurgent groups.&nbsp;Colonel Xerxes Trinidad told reporters the father-and-son duo&#39;s November trip to the Philippines would not have provided adequate time for significant training.&nbsp;&quot;Training cannot be acquired in just 30 days ... especially if you are to undergo marksmanship (training),&quot; he said.&nbsp;But Rommel Banlaoi, a Manila-based security analyst, told AFP that while many insurgent groups were &quot;on the run,&quot; they were far from eradicated.&nbsp;&quot;There are still many active training camps in (central) Mindanao. Those did not disappear,&quot; he told AFP, adding even weakened insurgent movements maintained connections &quot;locally and globally online.&quot;

Asia

Australian authorities are investigating whether the two gunmen met with extremists during their Philippines trip.

Philippines says no evidence of 'terrorist training' after Bondi gunmen's visit

Web Desk/AFP

ISLAMABAD: Indian police said on Tuesday that one of the two gunmen behind Australia&#39;s Bondi Beach mass shootings, Sajid Akram, was an Indian citizen who had left the country 27 years ago. Akram and his son Naveed &mdash; who is listed on Australian immigration records as an Australian citizen, according to authorities &mdash; opened fire on people celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah on Sunday, killing 15. &quot;Sajid Akram is originally from Hyderabad, India. He... migrated to Australia in search of employment approximately 27 years ago, in November 1998,&quot; police in India&#39;s southern state of Telangana said in a statement. &quot;As per information available from his relatives in India, Sajid Akram had limited contact with his family in Hyderabad over the past 27 years,&quot; the statement added. &quot;He visited India on six occasions after migrating to Australia, primarily for family-related reasons such as property matters and visits to his elderly parents. It is understood that he did not travel to India even at the time of his father&#39;s demise.&quot; Australia&#39;s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the father and son who carried out one of the country&#39;s deadliest mass shootings were driven by ISIS &quot;ideology.&quot; Authorities said the attack was designed to sow panic among the nation&#39;s Jews. Telangana police said they had &quot;no adverse record&quot; against Sajid while he had been in India before his departure. &quot;The family members have expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalisation&quot;, the statement read. &quot;The factors that led to the radicalisation of Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed, appear to have no connection with India or any local influence in Telangana&quot;, it added.

Indian police said Sajid Akram, one of two gunmen in the Bondi Beach shooting, is from Hyderabad and migrated to Australia in 1998. Meanwhile, his son Naveed is an Australian citizen. 

Articles tagged with "bondi beach shooting"

Philippines says no evidence of 'terrorist training' after Bondi gunmen's visit

Australia Bondi gunman was Indian citizen: Telangana police

Philippines says no evidence of 'terrorist training' after Bondi gunmen's visit