"I can confirm that they had two homemade ISIS flags in the car," said Mal Lanyon, police chief in the state of New South Wales, during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon local time.
The police chief also confirmed media reports that the two perpetrators traveled to the Philippines just a month before the terrorist attack, but gave no further details about why. According to sources to ABC News, the two men visited the country to receive “military training.”
"I think we've been pretty clear that the reason why the Akrams (the perpetrators) went to the Philippines, where they went, is unclear at this time and subject to investigation," says Mal Lanyon.
The father and son spent almost a month in the country, the Philippine immigration agency told AFP. The elderly man was registered as an Indian citizen, the agency said. He first arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa that was converted to a partner visa three years later. The son is an Australian citizen and was born in the country.
15 fatalities
It was on Sunday evening, local time, that the men opened fire on a Jewish festival at the iconic Bondi Beach. At least 15 people and one of the perpetrators, a 50-year-old father, were killed in the attack. According to police, the age range of the victims is between ten and 87 years old.
Another 40 people were injured in the attack, 24 of whom are still being treated in hospital. Three people have life-threatening injuries and five others are in serious but stable condition.
Earlier on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese said that the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach appears to be motivated by "Islamic State ideology."
The ideology has been around for more than a decade and has led to this ideology of hatred, and in this case, preparation to engage in mass murder, he said.
Being cared for under police guard
The younger of the two men was already investigated six years ago for his ties to a Sydney-based IS cell, but was not considered an urgent threat at the time.
Two of the people he has been linked to were convicted and imprisoned, but he was not then seen as a “person of interest,” Albanese said earlier.
The son, 24 years old, has been arrested and is now in a coma with serious injuries in the hospital where he is being treated under police guard.
