The world remains shocked by the deadliest terrorist attack in years in Australia when 50-year-old Shahid Akram and his 24-year-old son, Navid Akram, opened fire on Bondi Beach during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration, with the death toll reaching 15, including a 10-year-old girl.
According to latest reports from international media, the father and son, originally from Lahore, Pakistan, had been planning the attack for some time using an Airbnb apartment located approximately 30 minutes from the beach where they carried out their deadly rampage.
Police estimate the 50-year-old and 24-year-old had been staying there for the past two weeks preparing for the attack.
The building has already been searched by police who reportedly discovered improvised explosive devices there.
The ISIS connections
The prevailing theory suggests the two terrorists had some form of relationship with the Islamic State, with Australia’s ABC reporting earlier that ISIS flags were found in the car used by the two terrorists on Sunday.
International media also report that the 24-year-old had studied at the Al Murad Islamic center, having been featured in a 2022 photograph praising him for his excellent knowledge of “all the rules of tajweed” — the recitation laws of the Quran.
This scenario is further strengthened by information from Australia’s Telegraph that 50-year-old Shahid and 24-year-old Navid had spent a month in the Philippines, a country considered one of the world’s top extremist centers.
However, according to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the two perpetrators did not “belong to a broader terrorist organization.” Speaking on ABC TV, he said the “clear briefing” he received from intelligence services was that “there is no evidence of conspiracy, there is no evidence to prove these individuals belonged to an organization.” “It is clear that the motive is extremist ideology,” the Australian Prime Minister added.
The lies to family
Indicative of the secrecy surrounding the father and son’s preparation is the fact that they had taken care to “muddy the waters” by telling relatives they would be traveling south for fishing.
“He called me (on Sunday) and said: ‘Mom, I just went for a swim. I went diving. We’re going… to eat now, and then we’ll stay home because it’s hot,'” Navid’s mother told The Sydney Morning Herald.
According to the same source, Navid worked as a builder before being laid off about two months ago, while his father had held a gun license for about 10 years.
The 50-year-old was a member of a shooting club and licensed for long-barrel weapons. According to authorities, he possessed six firearms, which are believed to have been used in the attack.
National mourning in Australia
Australian flags will fly at half-mast across the country as a sign of national mourning following the armed attack on Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 dead, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced.
“Flags will fly at half-mast across the country today as tribute to the victims and injured,” the Australian Prime Minister stated.
Timeline of the massacre
Witnesses said the shooting at the beach, which was packed with people, lasted about 10 minutes, and hundreds of people began running in panic across the sand and to nearby streets and parks.
Police emphasized that approximately 1,000 people were attending the Hanukkah event.
“We all panicked and started running too. We abandoned everything… flip-flops, everything. We just ran to the hills,” said local resident Marcos Carvalho, 38.
Bondi resident Grace Matthew said people were running past her as she heard gunshots. “Initially, you think it’s a beautiful day at the beach.” “You think people are just having fun. Then more people were running and said there’s a gunman, there’s a mass shooting and they’re killing people,” she said.
“We heard gunshots. It was shocking… ten minutes of non-stop gunshots. It sounded like a powerful weapon,” Camilo Diaz, a 25-year-old Chilean student who was at the scene, told the French Press Agency.
“There were gunshots, two gunmen dressed in black and armed with semi-automatic rifles,” recounted another witness, Timothy Brand-Coules, a British tourist.
On the green slope overlooking the beach, a French Press Agency reporter saw many objects abandoned in the panic of those trying to escape the gunfire, including a baby stroller.
French anti-terrorism prosecutor launches investigation
The French anti-terrorism prosecutor announced an investigation in France, parallel to Australian authorities, regarding the attack against Jews on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Dan Elkaim, a 27-year-old French computer engineer, was killed during the attack, while another French citizen was injured. The French investigation concerns “murder related to terrorist operation” and “attempted murder related to terrorist operation.”
The investigation was assigned to the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) and the anti-terrorism subdivision of the National Directorate of Judicial Police.
“The main purpose of this investigation is to allow victims and their relatives residing in France to have access to information relevant to the progress of investigations conducted by French and Australian judicial authorities and, on the other hand, to provide assistance, support or expertise to Australian judicial authorities,” according to the prosecutor’s announcement.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced Dan Elkaim’s death last night, speaking of “an outrageous wave of anti-Semitic hatred which we must repel.”
The president of the Council of Jewish Organizations in France (Crif) Yonatan Arfi said he spoke with Dan Elkaim’s parents to express “our solidarity and emotion” on behalf of France’s Jewish institutions.
Dan Elkaim is among the 15 people killed by two gunmen, father and son, who opened fire on the crowd gathered at Sydney’s Bondi Beach during the start of Hanukkah celebrations.
Shocked neighbors of the perpetrators
Like many Sydney residents, Glen Nelson spent Sunday afternoon watching television reports about the deadly attack on Bondi Beach.
But stepping onto his front porch, he saw armed police who had blocked the road before raiding the house across the street — the home of two suspects allegedly responsible for killing 15 people in Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades.
Nelson and other neighbors said the family living across from him was private but seemed like all the others residing in the suburb of Bonnyrigg, a working-class neighborhood with ethnically diverse population about 36 km from Sydney’s business center.
Local media named the two suspects as father and son, Sajid and Navid Akram, aged 50 and 24 respectively.
Police did not name the suspects but said the 50-year-old was killed on the spot, while his 24-year-old son is hospitalized in critical condition.
Police said the son was known to authorities and the father had a gun license.
The Sydney Morning Herald spoke with a woman on Sunday evening who claimed to be the wife and mother of the suspects.
This woman said the two men had told her they were going fishing before heading to Bondi and opening fire at an event celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
“I always see the man, woman and son,” said 66-year-old Lemanatuwa Fatou, who lives across the street. “They are normal people.”
Until yesterday’s bloody attack, Bonnyrigg was an otherwise ordinary neighborhood, typical of Sydney’s western suburbs.
It has significant Vietnamese and Chinese communities, along with many residents born in Iraq, Cambodia and Laos, according to government data.
At the town center is a shopping complex with a large adjacent parking area, flanked by a mosque, Buddhist temple and several churches.
“It’s a quiet area, very quiet,” Fatou said. “And people mind their own business, do their own thing – until now.”
So far, little information has been released about the suspects’ background.
A Facebook post from an Arabic and Quranic Studies institute featuring one of the men was removed today, while no one answered the door at an address registered for the institute in the neighboring suburb of Heckenberg.
