Filipino hotel in Davao City says Bondi Beach suspects stayed for a month and were there every night

authorities investigating the Terrorist attack on Bondi Beach I have been researching a month-long trip taken by the suspectsfather and son Sajid and Naveed Akram, to the philippineswhere there has been a decades-long Islamist insurgency in the south of the country.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this week that the The attack was inspired by ISIS.and there is an ISIS-affiliated militant group operating in a remote area of ​​the Philippines.

But a hotel receptionist in Davao City said the attackers never left her room for more than a day.

Jojo, who works at the GV Hotel in Davao, told News themezone on Thursday that Sajid and Naveed Akram, the eldest of whom died during Sunday’s attack, checked into the hotel on Nov. 1 and then checked out on Nov. 28.

He said they extended their stay week by week and paid cash, and they went out during the day, but returned to the hotel every night, often bringing food to eat in their room.

He said there was nothing particularly suspicious between the father and son, who carried a suitcase and backpack between them.

Australian public broadcaster ABC previously reported that the Bondi Beach attackers had received “military-style training” in the Philippines, citing security sources.

But on Wednesday, Philippine presidential spokesperson Claire Castro, citing a statement from the National Security Council, said there was “no validated report or confirmation that the people involved in the Bondi Beach incident received any training in the Philippines,” according to the French news agency News.

The government “strongly rejects the sweeping statement and misleading characterization of the Philippines as the ISIS training point,” Castro said.

There has been an Islamist insurgency in the southern Philippines for many years, but the two main militant groups involved are not affiliated with ISIS, Tom Smith, academic director of the Royal Air Force College, who studies security and terrorism in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, told News themezone earlier this week.

There is a relatively small splinter group called Abu Sayyaf based on a remote archipelago affiliated with ISIS, but Smith said it would be very difficult for foreigners to receive weapons training from the group.

“They would stick out like a sore thumb,” Smith said. “When I go there, you know, I’m there with military support. I have a PhD in the area, and even I stick out like a sore thumb.”

He said there are “a lot of armed people in Mindanao, in the Philippines, to go and practice, you know, shooting rifles and whatever. But it’s a long way to say that that amounts to a terrorist camp.”

Australian and Indian authorities have confirmed that Sajid Akram, 50, who died during the attack, was traveling on an Indian passport, while his Australian-born son used an Australian passport.

Naveed Akram, 24, was injured during the attack, but woke up from a coma earlier this week and was quickly charged with 59 individual offences, including 15 counts of murder.