As Australian authorities try to retrace the steps and understand the motivations of the Bondi Beach gunmen who killed 15 people on Sunday, one key focus has emerged: their travel to the Philippines last month, shortly before the attack.
Officials say father-son duo Sajid and Naveed Akram journeyed to a southern part of the archipelago nation that has endured a painful history of Islamic extremism.
They stayed in the country for nearly a month; then, two weeks after departing, they carried out their massacre on the famed Sydney beach, targeting a Jewish celebration in what was Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades. Later, homemade Islamic State flags were found in their car.
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