Flydubai attacker began a 'drift towards extremism and terrorism' in Australia, UAE says

According to Shamsi, interrogations of the 29-year-old pilot revealed he had been inspired by al-Qaeda's 11 September attacks in the US in 2001.

"The findings indicated that signs of his drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged in 2017, while he was studying in Australia," the attorney-general was quoted as saying by the UAE's state news agency Wam on Friday.

"During that period, he was influenced by takfiri [radical] ideology through reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks."

The Wam report also said the pilot had told investigators "he had prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry out the plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach".

"He admitted that he had acted alone, without the involvement of others, although investigations are continuing to verify this claim," Wam said.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has reported the man was issued an Australian student visa in 2014 and studied in the country in 2015-17, before leaving.

This week, the Sydney Morning Herald unearthed tweets from al-Mammami's now-deleted X account in which he referred to his five years spent studying abroad in Australia, Britain, and New Zealand, as "the golden years of my religious commitment".

More than 170 passengers and crew were on board flight FZ1073 on 30 September.

In the days after the incident, Australian authorities confirmed they were looking into the man's links to Australia.

The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team - made up of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Victoria Police and the country's security agency ASIO - said it was "investigating the man's links to Australia".