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Bondi gunmen inspired by ISIS, travelled to Philippines, Australia police say
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/australia-police-say-bondi-gunmen-had-homemade-isis-flags-in-vehicle/
Two alleged gunmen who attacked a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach had travelled to the Philippines before the assault, which killed 15 people, and appeared to be inspired by Islamic State, police said on Tuesday.
The attack on Sunday was Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
The death toll stands at 16, including one of the alleged gunmen, identified by police as Sajid Akram, 50, who was shot by police. The man’s 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice, identified by local media as Naveed Akram, was in critical condition in hospital after also being shot.
Authorities probing Philippines trip
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/16/bondi-beach-attack-police-focus-visit-philippines
Australian police said on Tuesday both men had travelled to the Philippines last month and the purpose of the trip is under investigation.
Philippine immigration officials said both men travelled to Manila and onward to Davao in the south of the country on November 1 and left on November 28, just weeks before the Bondi shooting.
The father travelled on an Indian passport, while the son was on an Australian passport, officials said, adding it was not conclusive they were linked to any terrorist group or whether they received training in the country.
“Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, allegedly committed by a father and son,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said at a news conference.
“These are the alleged actions of those who have aligned themselves with a terrorist organization, not a religion.”
Islamic state-linked networks are known to operate in the Philippines and have wielded some influence in the south of the country. They have been reduced to weakened cells operating in the southern Mindanao island in recent years, far from the scale of influence they wielded during the 2017 Marawi siege.
It is not yet known what the two men did in the Philippines but for many years, security officials and analysts have described time spent overseas in the company of committed and experienced militants as the “X-factor” that can transform an amateurish ambition into a competently executed attack.
One suggestion – that they sought to have a final blowout holiday – appears unlikely. Examples of this among such attackers are vanishingly rare. A second is that the pair sought military training from the small number of active extremist factions in Mindanao. This is more plausible but would involve two inexperienced men from Australia surmounting formidable logistic and other challenges.
Often the purpose of military training overseas is not to impart skills but to build a sense of camaraderie and to instil determined purpose. We know from dozens of past plots – those in Paris in 2015, the 7/7 attacks in London 2007, those of 9/11 in 2001, for example – that this is often the crucial element.
But this can be done in different ways: through intensive instruction by some charismatic and respected individual in the militants’ twisted version of religion, for example, rather than military skills. Being isolated, especially far away from familiar habitats and people, allows rapid indoctrination, particularly if the ground has been prepared by systematic consumption of online propaganda.
Police also said the vehicle which is registered to the younger male contained improvised explosive devices and two homemade flags associated with ISIS, a militant group designated by Australia and many other countries as a terrorist organization.
The father and son allegedly fired upon hundreds of people at the festival during a roughly 10-minute killing spree at one of Australia’s top tourist destinations, forcing people to flee and take shelter before both were shot by police.
Videos have emerged of the younger shooter preaching Islam outside train stations in suburban Sydney. Authorities are still trying to piece together how he went down the path of violence.
...
Ahmed al Ahmed, the 43-year-old Muslim father-of-two who charged at one of the gunmen and seized his rifle, remains in a Sydney hospital with gunshot wounds. He has been hailed as a hero around the world, including by U.S. President Donald Trump.
A GoFundMe campaign set up for Ahmed has raised more than A$1.9 million (US$1.26 million).
Thousands of Australians queued outside blood donation centers across the country to donate blood, responding to calls from medical agencies.
Tougher gun laws
Australia’s gun laws are now being examined by the federal government, after police said Sajid Akram was a licensed gun owner and had six registered weapons.
Akram received his gun license in 2023, not 2015 as had been earlier stated, police said on Tuesday.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said gun laws introduced by the previous conservative Liberal-National coalition government following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania needed to be re-examined.
I read somewhere else that he only had hunting rifles. Don't you need to reload those? How do two people manage to kill 15 and wound another 28 in 10 minutes with hunting rifles? (How do you kill a person at all is a bigger mystery to me, sick individuals)
From the BBC:
Looking at footage, NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, said “two sporting shotguns” used in the mass shooting may have been a specific type of Stoeger M3000 M3K straight-pull model.
According to Jenzen-Jones, straight-pull sporting shotguns are a commonly-owned weapon as they offer a relatively fast-firing action under current firearms law in Australia.
Experts from the open-source intelligence firm Janes said another rifle used by one of gunmen during the attack was highly likely to be a Beretta BRX1 - a gun designed for hunting large game.
Both weapons can be legally held under New South Wales and Australian firearm licensing laws, external.
Better re-examine those sporting licenses....
