The possibility of ISIS connection with the fatal shooting in Sydney has strengthened – Mehr news agency RCO News Agency

According to the Mehr news agency, Australia’s “ABC” website announced in a report that in 2019, the security apparatus of this country has put Naveed Akram, one of the attackers of Sunday’s Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, under surveillance because of his close connection with an ISIS terrorist cell based in Sydney.

Navid Akram, 24, along with his 50-year-old father, Sajid Akram, opened fire on the participants of the Jewish festival held on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday. According to reports, this attack has left at least 16 dead and 40 injured.

Sajid Akram was killed during the exchange of fire with the police, but Navid Akram, who was injured, was taken to the hospital.

Police raided their home in Banyrigg in Sydney’s southwest on Sunday evening.

Investigators from Australia’s Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, a unit made up of federal and state forces, believe the attackers pledged allegiance to ISIS.

According to senior Australian officials, two ISIS flags were discovered in their car parked on Bundy Beach. In the images recorded from the scene of the accident, one of these flags can be seen on the hood of the car.

A senior official of Australia’s Joint Counter-Terrorism Team said that six years ago, the Australian security apparatus put Naveed Akram under surveillance after police foiled an ISIS terror attack plot.

According to the information received by “ABC”, the Australian security apparatus has monitored Naveed Akram in 2019, shortly after the arrest of Ishaq Matari, a member of ISIS.

This Australian official said that Navid Akram had a close relationship with Matari.

Ishaq Matari, the self-proclaimed ISIS commander in Australia, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for planning operations in the country. He, along with several others, was a member of one of the ISIS cells in Sydney. According to an informed source, Navid Akram had a close relationship with all of them.

Mike Burgess, a senior Australian security official, said on Sunday that one of the attackers was known to the agency. He said: “One of these people was known to us, but not as an immediate threat.”