The fact that flags with inscriptions from the terrorist organization IS were found in the car of the two Bondi Beach mass murderers does not in itself mean that they were members of a tightly controlled group. Terrorists have repeatedly referred to the organization without their heads even knowing about the crimes.
ISIS has sometimes been compared to a franchise system, whose brand symbols and practices are used by “entrepreneurs” who work primarily for their own account. The name, which suggests the constitution of an “Islamic State,” exerts an attraction on jihadists, especially after the expulsion of IS from the areas it once controlled in Syria and Iraq.
Did the perpetrators receive military training in the Philippines?
However, there are now indications that the two terrorists did not act without an organizational connection. A few weeks before the massacre, they traveled to the Philippines, specifically to the region on the island of Mindanao where militant Islamist groups have strongholds. They joined IS some time ago, also to legitimize themselves.
It has not yet been officially confirmed whether the attackers were commissioned or trained there. What is clear, however, is that the ideology that amounts to Islamist world domination is still terribly fruitful.
