‘It looks very haphazard’: doubts cast on reports claiming alleged Bondi shooters may have met IS in the Philippines

Philippine police Swat team members on standby as investigators inspect the budget hotel where Bondi terror suspects Sajid and Naveed Akram stayed in the weeks before the shooting. Photograph: Manman/The Guardian

A former jihadi who claims to have knowledge of how the Islamic State works in the Philippines says he believes it is unlikely the alleged Bondi gunmen met with the group when they “haphazardly” travelled to the country before the attack.

Authorities have confirmed the alleged father-and-son terrorists, Naveed and Sajid Akram, travelled to the Philippines on 1 November and flew out of the country on 28 November – weeks before the massacre at the Chanukah by the Sea event.