The alleged perpetrators of Bondi Beach traveled to the Philippines shortly before the attack – probably for terror training. Investigators are examining further evidence in connection with the radicalization of the men.
Dec 16, 2025, 05:43Dec 16, 2025, 05:51
Anna-Lena Janzen / t-online
After the fatal attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney, there are clear indications of an Islamist-motivated act. According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the two attackers are said to have followed the ideology of the “Islamic State” (IS). “It appears that the attack was motivated by the ideology of the Islamic State,” Albanese told ABC Sydney radio on Tuesday.
The younger of the two attackers was arrested and is in the hospital.Image: x
Father and son probably traveled to the Philippines
New South Wales Police Chief Mal Lanyon confirmed on Tuesday that the two shooters – a father and his 24-year-old son – had traveled to the Philippines last month. “The reasons for their trip, their purpose and their whereabouts are currently being investigated,” he said.
Investigators found two homemade IS flags in the two’s vehicle. The car was registered to his son. The father was shot at the scene, the son was seriously injured and arrested. He is currently in the hospital. “We are working intensively to clarify the backgrounds of both people,” says Lanyon.
The Australian broadcaster ABC reported, citing an anonymous high-ranking security official, that father and son first traveled to Manila and then to the south of the country to undergo “military training”. They only returned to Australia two weeks before the crime. According to the report, anti-terrorism investigators assume that the duo swore allegiance to IS there.
The Philippines has been considered a retreat for Islamist groups since the 1990s. After the closure of terrorist camps on the Afghan-Pakistani border, some of them relocated to the south of the island of Mindanao. Since then, Islamist movements have become stronger in this part of the country, and there are still ongoing clashes between government troops and extremists.
In 2017, the Philippine military took massive action against Islamists who wanted to take control of the city of Marawi. Then-President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law. The Islamists were decimated in months of fighting and at the expense of civilian casualties, but they have since remained active in parts of Mindanao and especially in the Sulu Archipelago. In 2012, the Swiss taxidermist Lorenzo Vinciguerra fell into the clutches of the Abu Sayyaf militia in the area. In 2014 he was able to escape after more than 1,000 days.
Terrorism was apparently suspected as early as 2018
According to reports, the Australian domestic secret service ASIO had already checked the younger perpetrator’s possible connections to an IS cell in Sydney six years ago. However, the investigation was stopped. ASIO found no evidence of radicalization in a six-month investigation, Prime Minister Albanese said in an interview on ABC 7.30 on Monday evening. The men were therefore not on a terror watch list. The father was a registered gun owner and could legally obtain firearms.
The son was reportedly born in Australia in 2001. The father arrived in 1998 on a student visa and apparently now had a permanent residence permit. The two most recently lived in the western Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg. Shortly before the attack, they were staying in short-term accommodation in the Campsie district. (t-online/con)
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