Investigators swoop on Philippines hotel where the Bondi jihadis stayed while they ‘trained to kill’

It is understood the older Akram travelled using an Indian passport, and his son, who had been investigated over links to terror groups six year earlier, an Australian one.

Spokesperson for Australia’s immigration bureau Dana Sandoval said the pair listed Davao in the Philippines as their destination upon arrival.

Stunning beaches and lush jungles attract thousands of tourists to the archipelago but Davao is a sprawling city on the eastern coast of Mindanao in a region where Islamist militants have historically operated.

Philippines Police Major Catherine Dela Rey, spokesperson for the Police Regional Office 11 (PRO-11), confirmed a multi-agency investigation was underway to verify the movements of the pair.

She said: “The investigation will determine whether they indeed arrived in Davao, where they stayed, and who they may have met, or whether they only passed through the city or stayed elsewhere.”

A worker at the GV Hotel in Davao said the pair booked a seven-night stay online, but on 8 November told staff they would extend their stay for another week and paid in cash.

Receptionist Jenelyn Sayson told Sky News she was on duty when they checked in on 1 November.

She claimed they mainly remained inside their small, sparse room with two single beds and a television.

When police investigators visited the hotel they showed her a photo of an individual which she immediately identified as one of the two guests.

The officers from Task Force Davao also requested CCTV footage but the recordings from November had already been automatically deleted.

Mindanao has been known for being a hotbed for Islamist militants, with several local groups pledging allegiance to Isis from 2014.

In 2017, hundreds of Isis-aligned militants stormed Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur province in the Muslim-majority Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao, sparking fears over the strength of jihadi fighters in the Philippines.

Marawi was recaptured five months later after a bloody conflict that killed more than 900 militants.

But many Islamic militant groups remain active and armed in more remote regions, with some willing to train foreign fighters.

Professor Greg Barton, a terrorism expert at Deakin University in Victoria, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Mindanao had long been a hotbed for extremism, first for operatives linked to al-Qaeda and then Isis, after the group expanded in 2014.

He said: “Davao is the largest city on Mindanao and you can easily go by road to western Mindanao, where there are Islamic State people.

“Although the Philippine government has been very good at cracking down on training camps, I’m sure there are small groups operating discreetly in the hills, in the jungles.”

Levi West, a terrorism expert at the Australian National University said there was significant training infrastructure in the southern Philippines for insurgency and guerrilla warfare, but “you can’t just show up … you’ll be shot”.

He said: “You would have needed connectivity to those camps, which then raises questions about how it is that two people living in Australia were able to establish that connectivity and not have it show up as some sort of indicator or red flag.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Mossad was aiding the Australian investigation, which is a standard procedure regarding terrorist attacks against Jews.

In August 2025, Australia identified the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as the mastermind behind fires at a Sydney kosher restaurant and a Melbourne synagogue.

Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi and three diplomatic staff were told they had one week to leave and Australia suspended its embassy operations in Iran.

Israeli intelligence sources said the terror attack appeared to be sophisticated and well-planned, bearing the hallmarks of Unit 910, Hezbollah’s external operations arm.

There has been further speculation about possible links between the massacre and groups including Hamas and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, though Australian officials are yet to confirm if there was any foreign involvement.

Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence expert on Hezbollah said: “Australia has long been known to be a hub for Hezbollah and, so it could even be a joint operation between Hezbollah and Quds Force.”

Two Isis flags were found in their car in Bondi after the shooting, along with improvised explosive devices and the gunmen are believed to have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

The younger Akram was the subject of a six-month probe by Australian intelligence in October 2019, but judged not to pose any “ongoing threat”. He was identified because of links to Isaac El Matari, self-proclaimed leader of a Sydney-based Isis terror cell now serving seven years in jail.