\n<\/p>\n
Philippine official said \u2018a mere visit\u2019 to the country does not support claims the men underwent \u2018terrorist training\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n There is no evidence the suspected gunmen in the deadly Bondi Beach attack received military training in the southern Philippines, Manila\u2019s national security adviser has said, as Australia announced plans to introduce measures to tighten the country\u2019s hate speech laws.<\/p>\n In a Wednesday statement, Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano confirmed the two suspects in Sunday\u2019s\u00a0attack in Sydney, Australia \u2013 which saw 15 people killed after gunmen opened fire at a Jewish event \u2013 were in the country from November 1 to 28 this year.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Ano said immigration records showed that 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram travelled via the Philippine capital Manila to Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao. He added that Sajid had entered the country on an Indian passport, while Naveed entered on an Australian one.<\/p>\n Ano added that there was \u201cno evidence\u201d that the men had received \u201cany form of military training\u201d while in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cA mere visit does not support allegations of terrorist training, and the duration of their stay would not have allowed for any meaningful or structured training,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The men mostly stayed in their hotel rooms when in Davao, according to a report by local news outlet MindaNews. Staff at the hotel said the pair checked in on November 1 and rarely went out for more than an hour at a time during their almost monthlong stay.<\/p>\n Australian authorities announced on Wednesday that Naveed Akram had been charged with 59 offences for his role in the attack, including murder and terror charges, when he woke from his coma. Sajid Akram, his father, was shot dead by police at the scene.<\/p>\n Ano also suggested that reports describing Mindanao \u2013 a Muslim-majority region in the Catholic-majority country, plagued by a decades-long secessionist conflict \u2013 as a \u201chotspot for violent extremism or Islamic State ideology\u201d were \u201coutdated and misleading\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the 2017 Marawi Siege, Philippine security forces have significantly degraded ISIS-affiliated groups in the country,\u201d he said, referring to a five-month battle in which the ISIL-inspired Maute group seized the southern city and fought government forces.<\/p>\n \u201cThe remnants of these groups have been fragmented, deprived of leadership, and operationally degraded,\u201d Ano added.<\/p>\n A 2014 peace agreement, which saw rebels drop their secessionist aspirations in exchange for a more powerful and better-funded Muslim autonomous region called Bangsamoro, has also brought a degree of calm to Mindanao.<\/p>\n But smaller rebel groups continue to carry out sporadic, deadly attacks across the restive\u00a0southern Philippines\u2019 region.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged to introduce new legislation cracking down on hate speech in response to the Bondi Beach attack, as he acknowledged that Australia had witnessed an increase in anti-Semitism since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, and Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n Announcing the new measures at a news conference, Albanese said his government will seek to introduce legislation making it easier to charge people promoting hate speech and violence \u2013 including religious preachers \u2013 while new powers will be created to cancel or reject visas of people who spread \u201chate and division\u201d.<\/p>\n The legislation would also develop a regime to target organisations whose leaders engage in hate speech, Albanese added.<\/p>\n Albanese said rising anti-Semitism \u201cculminated on Sunday in one of the worst acts of mass murder that this country has ever seen\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an attack on our Jewish community \u2013 but it was also an attack on the Australian way of life. Australians are shocked and angry. I am angry. It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge, much more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said on Wednesday he would recall the state parliament next week in order to pass urgent reforms on gun laws.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Philippine official said \u2018a mere visit\u2019 to the country does not support claims the men underwent \u2018terrorist training\u2019. There is no evidence the suspected gunmen in the deadly Bondi Beach attack received military training in the southern Philippines, Manila\u2019s national security adviser has said, as Australia announced plans to introduce measures to tighten the country\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018Also an attack on the Australian way of life\u2019: Anthony Albanese<\/h2>\n
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