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Agence France-Presse

A father and son were driven by “Islamic State ideology” when they fired on Bondi Beach in one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed opened fire on Jewish crowds thronging the famous beach for Hanukkah on Sunday evening, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more.
Authorities said the attack was designed to sow panic among the nation’s Jews, but have so far given little detail on the gunmen’s deeper motivations.
Albanese gave one of the first hints on Tuesday that the pair had been radicalised by an “ideology of hate”.
“It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology,” Albanese told national broadcaster ABC.
“With the rise of Isis more than a decade ago now, the world has been grappling with extremism and this hateful ideology,” he said in a separate interview.
Police found a car registered to Naveed Akram parked near the beach in the aftermath of the shooting.
They found improvised bombs and “two home-made Isis flags”, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said on Tuesday.


Authorities are facing mounting questions over whether they could have acted earlier to foil the attack.
Albanese said Naveed Akram, 24, reportedly an unemployed bricklayer, had come to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019.
But he was not considered an imminent threat at the time.
“They interviewed him, they interviewed his family members, they interviewed people around him,” Albanese said.
“He was not seen at that time to be a person of interest.”
Police are still piecing together the duo’s movements before the shooting.
“The reasons why they went to the Philippines, and the purpose of that, and where they went, are under investigation at the moment,” Lanyon told reporters on Tuesday.
The Philippine immigration department said on Tuesday that the pair spent almost all of November in the country.
Immigration records listed Sajid as an Indian national and his son as an Australian citizen, spokeswoman Dana Sandoval said.
“Both reported Davao as their final destination. They left the country on November 28, 2025, on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination,” she said.
The southern Philippine island of Mindanao, home to Davao province, has a long history of Islamist insurgencies against central government rule.


Naveed reportedly told his mother on the day of the attack that he was heading out of the city on a fishing trip.
Instead, authorities believe he was holed up in a rented flat with his father plotting the assault.
Carrying long-barrelled guns, they peppered the beach with bullets for 10 minutes before police shot and killed 50-year-old Sajid.
Naveed remains in a coma in hospital under police guard.
A 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a local rabbi were among those killed, while 42 others were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries.
Australia’s leaders agreed on Monday to toughen laws that allowed Sajid to own six guns.
Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the town of Port Arthur in 1996.
The Port Arthur massacre sparked a world-leading crackdown that included a gun buy-back scheme and limits on semi-automatic weapons.
But many Australians are now questioning whether those laws are equipped to deal with online sales and a steady rise in privately owned guns.
“This horrific situation now, it does make me personally feel that they need to be stricter,” David Sovyer, 43, said.
Retiree Allan McRae, 75, said “not a lot of people need a gun”.
“It would’ve reduced the possibility of it happening if more people had reduced access to a gun,” he said.

The attack has also revived allegations Australia is dragging its feet in the fight against antisemitism.
“The last four years, I was very clear. And I was very clear about the dangers of the rise in antisemitism,” Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said while visiting a memorial to the victims on Tuesday.
Australian Jewish Association head Robert Gregory said the government had “failed to take adequate actions to protect the Jewish community”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Australia’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood earlier this year had poured “oil on the fire of antisemitism”.
Prime Minister Albanese visited Bondi Beach shooting hero Ahmed al Ahmed in hospital on Tuesday, who was shot several times in the shoulder after tussling with one of the gunmen.
“He was trying to get a cup of coffee and found himself at a moment where people were being shot in front of him,” Albanese said after a bedside visit with heavily bandaged Ahmed.
“He decided to take action and his bravery is an inspiration for all Australians,” Albanese added.
Bedbound and with tubes in his nose, Ahmed briefly thanked well-wishers in Arabic in a video circulating on social media on Tuesday.
“I appreciate the efforts of everyone,” he said, according to an English translation provided by Turkish public broadcaster TRT World.
“May Allah reward you and grant you well-being,” he said. “God willing, we will return to you with joy. Thank you for your efforts.”

Desperate to help, Australians have lined up in their thousands to donate blood to the wounded.
Red Cross Australia said more than 7,000 people had given blood on Monday, smashing the previous national record.
A makeshift flower memorial next to Bondi Beach swollen in size on Monday evening, as mourners gathered to pay tribute to the victims and mark the second day of Hanukkah.
Hundreds of mourners, including members of the Jewish community, sang songs, clapped and held each other.
Leading a ceremony to light a menorah candle, a rabbi told the crowd: “The only strength we have is if we bring light into the world.”


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Isis-inspired Bondi Beach gunmen visited Philippines before shooting: police

Mourners place flowers at a makeshift memorial at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

A man lays flowers at a makeshift memorial at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) meets Ahmed al Ahmed at a Sydney hospital on Tuesday. Photo: Australian Prime Minister’s Office via AP

Grandparents of a girl who was killed in the Bondi Beach shooting are comforted at a floral memorial to honour the victims in Sydney on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Bondi shooting: bystander who tackled gunman hailed as ‘genuine hero’

Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, is seen tackling one of the Bondi gunmen in this screengrab from a social media video. Photo: X

Australia to strengthen gun laws after Bondi Beach massacre by father and son

People pay their respects near Bondi Beach on Monday to the victims of Sunday’s shooting. Photo: Reuters

People have laid flowers, candles and messages for the victims of Sunday’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach. Photo: via dpa

Police block access to the Bondi Beach car park on Monday, the day after an attack by two gunmen killed 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl. Photo: AFP

The Australian and Aboriginal flags fly at half-mast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach shootings. Photo: AFP

Mourners gather at a tribute at the Bondi Pavilion in memory of the victims of Sunday’s shooting at Bondi Beach. Photo: AFP

For some Australian Jews, Bondi shooting feels inevitable after thousands of antisemitic incidents

A member of Sydney’s Jewish community reacts as he stands near the site of a fatal shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Youngsters react as they leave the site of an attack by gunmen at Bondi Beach on Sunday evening. Photo: AFP

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese leaves a press conference about Sunday’s fatal shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Photo: EPA

World leaders express horror at Bondi Beach terror attack as vigils are held for victims

People hold a vigil outside the Australian High Commission in central London, Britain on Sunday following a terrorist attack on a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Photo: PA Wire / dpa

Candles burn following the Sunday attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia on Monday morning. Photo: Reuters

Forensic officers on Monday stand on the bridge where gunmen opened fire at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Sunday. Photo: EPA

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, centre, and his wife Elke Buedenbender attend a vigil for the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack, in Berlin, Germany on Sunday. Photo: AP

Netanyahu accuses Australia’s PM of inaction in tackling antisemitism

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Reuters

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Southeast Asia

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sajid Akram and his son Naveed had been radicalised by an ‘ideology of hate’


Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sajid Akram and his son Naveed had been radicalised by an ‘ideology of hate’.


Isis-inspired Bondi Beach gunmen visited Philippines before shooting: police

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sajid Akram and his son Naveed had been radicalised by an ‘ideology of hate’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sajid Akram and his son Naveed had been radicalised by an ‘ideology of hate’