PHILIPPINE police have launched a wide-ranging investigation to identify people who had contact with the two gunmen responsible for the Bondi Beach shooting during their month-long stay in Davao, a major city in the country’s south.
Brigadier-General Leon Victor Rosete, the regional police chief for Davao, said officers had begun “backtracking operations” to establish where the suspects went and whom they met while in the city.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported today that the two men, identified as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, were reported by The New York Times to have met local Muslim religious leaders during their time in Davao.
However, Brig-Gen Rosete said investigators were still working to determine “who specifically they met in the area and what was discussed”.
Police are reviewing extensive security camera footage across the city, along with hotel records, travel documents and other intelligence material. Brig-Gen Rosete said the objective was to reconstruct the suspects’ activities and to identify any individuals they interacted with while “assessing possible links or support networks”.
Sajid and Naveed Akram were confirmed to have stayed for nearly a month at the GV Hotel in Davao before the attack in Sydney that left at least 15 people dead. According to hotel staff member Jenelyn Sayson, the pair rarely left their accommodation throughout their stay.
“They rarely went out of their hotel for the entire length of their stay, and their longest stay outside the hotel was between one and two hours,” she said.
Davao, the largest city on the island of Mindanao, sits in a region long affected by Islamist insurgencies, including groups that have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Initial intelligence shared by Australian counterterrorism authorities suggested the Akrams were inspired by ISIS and had travelled to the Philippines for training.
However, on Dec 17, the Philippine National Security Council said it was unable to confirm whether the two men had “received any form of training in the Philippines”.
The region has previously borne the impact of militancy. In 2016, a bomb attack at a popular night market in Davao killed at least 14 people, an incident later blamed on a small militant group seeking the attention of ISIS.
Amid growing speculation, the Climate Conflict Action Asia group urged restraint from both authorities and the public, warning against drawing hasty conclusions about the suspects’ links to Mindanao.
“Premature conclusions and speculations that lack evidence risk fuelling religious and identity-based conflict and may obscure the deeper and more complex drivers of violence and radicalisation,” the group said.
The investigation remains ongoing as Philippine authorities continue to cooperate with international partners to clarify the circumstances surrounding the suspects’ time in the country. - December 22, 2025
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