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The chief of the Australian Federal Police has announced that more operations are underway as authorities target hate preachers and their associates.
Images reveal a small hotel room with two single beds, priced at just over $20 per night, reportedly paid in cash by the Akram family. This was their base during a 27-day stay in the Philippines, which has become a focal point in the investigation of a terror attack in Bondi.
Claire Castro from the Philippines’ Presidential Communications Office stated, “The president firmly opposes the broad generalization and mischaracterization of the Philippines as an ISIS training ground.”
Reports suggest the father and son were in Davao City, allegedly for militant training, mere weeks before being accused of carrying out an Islamic State-inspired attack aimed at Jewish families on Bondi Beach.
Philippine officials have been swift to deny allegations of providing extremist training.
“Training cannot be acquired in just 30 days,” Armed Forces of the Philippines Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said.
Colonel Froncel Margareth Padilla said in a television interview, “there are no activities such as trainings or any local terrorist activities”.
“The AFP continues to work with both domestic and international partners to build a more complete picture of the movements and who the alleged offenders had contact with both in Australia and offshore,” AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.
She would not confirm if it was known whether the accused mass killers received combat instructions overseas, but she did have this warning for anyone who may have influenced them back home:
“I can also reveal the AFP has ongoing investigations into people who have been described as hate preachers,” she said.
“These individuals who spew hatred and cause fear are on my radar.”