Indian authorities confirm one of suspected shooters was a resident of Hyderabad, moved to Australia in 1998
\n sydney
\nOne of the two attackers involved in the Bondi Beach shooting that left at least 15 people dead during a Jewish gathering in Australia on December 14 was from Hyderabad, according to Indian government officials, The Hindu reported.
\nThe Indian authorities shared the details of the gunman, Sajid Akram, 50, who is now dead, after conducting a background verification, as per the report.
\nAs per the Indian officials, Sajid, a resident of Tolichowki in Indian Hyderabad, moved to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and had returned to India only \u201ctwo-three occasions\u201d since relocating.
\nHe last visited India in 2022.
\n\u201cHis father died in 2017; he did not even come to attend his last rites,\u201d said a top government official.
\nAccording to another official, Sajid\u2019s immediate family continues to live in Hyderabad, and his elder brother is a medical doctor.
\nSajid\u2019s son, Naveed, 24, the second attacker, was born in Australia in 2001 and holds Australian citizenship. He was also shot by the police during the Bondi Beach massacre and is currently receiving treatment in hospital.
\n\u201cAfter completing bachelors in commerce from Hyderabad, Sajid moved to Australia and married a European woman. He retained his Indian passport,\u201d said the official.
\nResponding to questions about possible domestic connections, the official said: \u201cPreliminary investigation does not establish any local links so far. We do not have access to his activities in Australia. His background was checked based on information from our sources.\u201d
\nSources also told The Hindu that Australian authorities are \u201cin touch\u201d with Indian officials as the investigation continues.
\nWhen asked whether Sajid was of Indian origin, as suggested in reports, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the matter was still under investigation.
\n\u201cSo I can\u2019t go into that detail and it wouldn\u2019t be appropriate to undermine the investigation by going into it,\u201d Albanese told reporters on Tuesday.
\nBondi suspect arrived in Philippines as \u2018Indian\u2019
\nEarlier, the Philippines authorities also said that Sajid was an Indian national, citing the gunman\u2019s travel documents.
\nSajid Akram and his son Naveed entered the country on November 1 with the southern province of Davao listed as their final destination, the Philippines immigration bureau had said.
\nThe father and son spent nearly the entire month of November in the Philippines, authorities in Manila confirmed, with the father entering as an \u201cIndian national\u201d.
\n\u201cSajid Akram, 50, Indian national, and Naveed Akram, 24, Australian national, arrived in the Philippines together last November 1, 2025 from Sydney, Australia,\u201d immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told AFP.
\n\u201cBoth 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.\u201d
\nPolice and military sources had earlier told reporters they were still in the process of confirming the duo\u2019s presence in the country.
\n\u201cEarly indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Daesh, allegedly committed by a father and son,\u201d Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said at a news conference.
\n\u201cThese are the alleged actions of those who have aligned themselves with a terrorist organisation, not a religion.\u201d
\nPolice also said the vehicle which is registered to the younger male contained improvised explosive devices and two homemade flags associated with ISIS, or Daesh, a militant group designated by Australia and many other countries as a terrorist organisation.
\nVideos have emerged of the younger shooter preaching religion outside train stations in suburban Sydney. Authorities are still trying to piece together how he went down the path of violence.
\nThe attack on Sunday was Australia\u2019s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
\nThe death toll stands at 16, including Sajid, who was shot by police on the spot. The man\u2019s 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice, Naveed, was in critical condition in the hospital after also being shot.
\nThe 15 victims ranged from a rabbi who was a father of five, to a Holocaust survivor, to a 10-year-old girl named Matilda Britvan, according to interviews, officials and media reports. Two police officers remained in critical but stable condition in the hospital, New South Wales police said.
\nAustralian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday that the two men had likely been radicalised by \u201cDaesh ideology\u201d.
\nDavao is a large urban centre located on the eastern side of Mindanao, the Philippines\u2019 largest southern island. Armed groups are known to be active in economically disadvantaged areas of central and southwestern Mindanao.
\nThe Philippine military, however, said it was unable to promptly verify claims that the two individuals had received \u201cmilitary-style training\u201d during their time in the country, despite earlier reports suggesting otherwise.
\nMindanao also has a long history of insurgencies against central government rule.
\nPro-Daesh Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants \u2014 including foreign and local fighters \u2014 held Mindanao\u2019s Marawi under siege in 2017.
\nThe 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.
\nWhile insurgent activity in Mindanao has significantly abated in the years since, the Philippine army continues to hunt leaders of groups deemed to be \u201cterrorists\u201d.
\nA spokesman for the army\u2019s Mindanao-based 6th Infantry Division told AFP on Tuesday that they had heard nothing in recent years about Daesh-linked training camps or foreigners training with local insurgents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indian authorities confirm one of suspected shooters was a resident of Hyderabad, moved to Australia in 1998 sydney One of the two attackers involved in the Bondi Beach shooting that left at least 15 people dead during a Jewish gathering in Australia on December 14 was from Hyderabad, according to Indian government officials, The Hindu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-520444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n