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ISLAMABAD: The father and son behind one of Australia&#39;s deadliest mass shootings spent nearly the entire month of November in the Philippines, Manila&#39;s immigration department confirmed Tuesday, with the father entering the country as an &quot;Indian national.&quot;&nbsp;Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who allegedly killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney&#39;s Bondi Beach, arrived on November 1 with the southern province of Davao listed as their final destination.&nbsp;&quot;Sajid Akram, 50, Indian national, and Naveed Akram, 24, Australian national, arrived in the Philippines together last November 1, 2025, from Sydney, Australia,&quot; immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told AFP, adding they departed on November 28. &quot;Both reported Davao as their final destination. They left the country on November 28, 2025, on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.&quot;&nbsp;Police and military sources had earlier told reporters they were still in the process of confirming the duo&#39;s presence in the country.&nbsp;Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday that the two men had likely been radicalized by &quot;Islamic State ideology.&quot;&nbsp;The Philippines&#39; southern island of Mindanao, home to Davao province, has a long history of Islamist insurgencies against central government rule.&nbsp;Pro-Islamic State Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants, including foreign and local fighters, held Mindanao&#39;s Marawi under siege in 2017.&nbsp;The Philippine military wrested back the ruined city after a five-month battle that claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.&nbsp;While insurgent activity in Mindanao has significantly abated in the years since, the Philippine army continues to hunt leaders of groups deemed to be &quot;terrorists.&quot; Indian, Israeli propaganda The confirmation follows widespread misinformation circulated by Indian and Israeli media outlets, which falsely identified the attackers as Pakistani nationals, a claim rejected by Australian authorities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu erroneously described the man who subdued one of the attackers as Jewish, while Israeli and Indian media alleged the gunmen were &ldquo;Pakistani Muslims.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;I saw a video on the way of a Jew who pounced on one of the murderers, snatched the weapon, saving who knows how many lives,&rdquo; the Israeli PM said during a briefing in Dimona, Israel.&nbsp;The Times of India shied away from describing the hero as a Syrian Muslim, and instead reported, &ldquo;Social media footage showed moments of bravery amid the terror, including a bystander who confronted one of the gunmen and wrestled a weapon away.&rdquo;&nbsp;Indian media outlets, including ANI and The Times of India, kept falsely asserting that the attackers were a Pakistani father and son. Both claims were wrong and contradicted by Australian officials&#39; descriptions of the incident.&nbsp;Neither the Israeli leader nor the Indian media has taken back their statements. With input from AFP.

A policeman ushers people across a street after a shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025 (AFP)

Australasia

Philippine immigration authorities have said that one of the suspects involved in the deadly Bondi Beach shooting entered Australia after travelling as an Indian national, according to official arrival records.

Bondi Beach shooter suspect arrived as 'Indian national': Philippine immigration

ISLAMABAD: Following the deadly shooting at Sydney&rsquo;s Bondi Beach on Sunday, several&nbsp;Indian and Israeli media outlets misreported the identities of both the attackers and the bystander who was hailed a hero, instead framing the incident around religion and nationality. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu erroneously described the man who subdued one of the attackers as Jewish, while Israeli and Indian media alleged the gunmen were &ldquo;Pakistani Muslims.&rdquo; &ldquo;I saw a video on the way of a Jew who pounced on one of the murderers, snatched the weapon, saving who knows how many lives,&rdquo; the Israeli PM said during a briefing in Dimona, Israel. The Times of India shied away from describing the hero as a Syrian Muslim, and instead reported, &ldquo;Social media footage showed moments of bravery amid the terror, including a bystander who confronted one of the gunmen and wrestled a weapon away.&rdquo; Indian media outlets, including ANI and The Times of India, kept falsely asserting that the attackers were a Pakistani father and son. Both claims were wrong and contradicted by Australian officials&#39; descriptions of the incident. Neither the Israeli leader nor the Indian media has taken back their statements. Jewish victims, Muslim heroThe shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration, killing at least 15 people according to official reports. The attack was quickly labelled an antisemitic terrorist attack by Australian officials, prompting international condemnation. Amid the chaos, an unarmed individual, identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, charged at one of the gunmen and snatched his gun while sustaining bullet shots. The international media was quick to praise the hero. Police credited Ahmed, father of two, with preventing further loss of life. Australian police said the attackers were linked to the Islamic State group, also known as Daesh, and were not acting on behalf of any state or national community. &quot;Clearly, they were motivated by this extremist ideology,&quot; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A makeshift flower memorial next to Bondi Beach swelled in size on Monday evening as mourners gathered to pay tribute to the victims.

Indian and Israeli media misreported the identities of the Bondi Beach attackers and a bystander hero, falsely linking the gunmen to Pakistan and not correctly identifying the Syrian Muslim rescuer, despite clarification by Australian authorities later.

Indian, Israeli media misreport Sydney beach shooters, bystander identities

BRUSSELS: World leaders express their horror and revulsion at Sunday&#39;s mass shooting in which 11 people were killed at Sydney&#39;s iconic Bondi Beach.&nbsp;Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the &quot;shocking and distressing&quot; attack, which Australian police are calling a &quot;terrorist&quot; incident, was &quot;beyond comprehension&quot; as assailants fired on a gathering celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.&nbsp;Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned what he called a &quot;very cruel attack on Jews&quot; by &quot;vile terrorists&quot;.&nbsp;King Charles III, head of the 56 countries of the 56-nation Commonwealth, of which Australia is a member, said he was &quot;appalled&quot; by &quot;most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack on Jewish people&quot;.&nbsp;US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also on X, said: &quot;Antisemitism has no place in this world.&nbsp;&quot;Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia.&quot;&nbsp;EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was &quot;shocked&quot; at what she condemned as an &quot;appalling act of violence&quot;.&nbsp;She added in a post to X: &quot;Europe stands with Australia and Jewish communities everywhere. We are united against violence, antisemitism and hatred.&quot;&nbsp;British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lamented what he described as the &quot;deeply distressing news from Australia.&nbsp;&quot;The United Kingdom sends our thoughts and condolences to everyone affected by the appalling attack in Bondi beach,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Israel&#39;s arch-enemy Iran joined the condemnations. Posting on X, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said: &quot;We condemn the violent attack in Sydney, Australia. Terror and killing of human beings, wherever committed, is rejected and condemned.&quot;&nbsp;Entirely foreseeableFrench President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack and vowed that France would &quot;fight relentlessly against antisemitic hatred.&quot;&nbsp;Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X she felt &quot;profound grief regarding the dramatic news arriving from Sydney.&nbsp;&quot;By once again firmly condemning all forms of violence and anti-semitism, Italy expresses its own condolences for the victims,&quot; she added.&nbsp;German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, also in a post to X, said: &quot;I am deeply shocked by the terrorist attack in Sydney &ndash;- an act of hatred directed against all Jews worldwide on the first day of Hanukkah.&nbsp;&quot;My thoughts are with the families of those murdered, the injured and the Jewish community,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that his country &quot;stands in solidarity with Australia in the face of the brutal terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, Sydney, which targeted the Jewish community.&nbsp;&quot;Terror and hatred must never prevail &mdash; they must be defeated everywhere and every time,&quot; he said.&nbsp;A major Australian Muslim organisation also condemned the &quot;horrific&quot; shooting.&nbsp;&quot;Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those who witnessed or were affected by this deeply traumatic attack,&quot; the Australian National Imams Council said, urging all Australians to stand together in unity, compassion, and solidarity.&nbsp;The head of Australia&#39;s Jewish Association meanwhile said the shooting was a &quot;tragedy but entirely foreseeable.&nbsp;&quot;The Albanese government was warned so many times but failed to take adequate actions to protect the Jewish community,&quot; Robert Gregory told AFP.&nbsp;

World leaders condemned the Bondi Beach shooting, killing 11 during Hanukkah. Australia, Israel, UK, US, EU, and others expressed horror, denouncing antisemitism, terrorism, and violence, while Australian Muslim and Jewish groups mourned and called for solidarity.

Articles tagged with "Bondi beach"

Bondi Beach shooter suspect arrived as 'Indian national': Philippine immigration

Indian, Israeli media misreport Sydney beach shooters, bystander identities

World leader’s express horror, revulsion at Bondi beach shooting