Authorities say Shire Ali’s Australian passport had previously been canceled because of fears he planned to travel to Syria in 2015. Despite being known to hold radical views, he was not being actively monitored by Australian security agencies and had been assessed as not posing a threat to the community.
Maulana Sami-ul-Haq was known to be a key supporter of the Afghan Taliban’s fight against the U.S.-backed Afghan government and NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.