Australian beach attack appears to have been motivated by Islamic State, PM says

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Sajid Akram and his son Naveed killed 15 people and injured more than 40 in the Sunday afternoon shooting at Bondi Beach. Authorities have called the attack a terrorist act motivated by anti-Semitism, but have so far provided few details about the attackers’ deeper motivations.

Albanese offered one of the first clues Tuesday, saying both men had been radicalized by an ideology of hate. “Apparently this was motivated by ISIS ideology,” the prime minister told Australian broadcaster ABC.

“With the rise of ISIS more than a decade ago, the world is fighting against extremism and this ideology of hate,” he said in another interview, using another acronym for the Islamic State.

Authorities are increasingly wondering whether they could have done more to prevent the attack.

Albanese said Naveed Akram, a 24-year-old unemployed construction worker, came to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019 but was not considered an imminent threat.

“They interviewed him, they interviewed his family, they interviewed people around him,” the Prime Minister explained. “Two people he had relationships with were charged and arrested, but at that time he was not considered a suspect,” he said.

Police continue to piece together the attackers’ movements in the days leading up to the shooting. A crucial question is whether they encountered Islamist extremists during a trip to the Philippines in November this year, state media reported.

On the day of the attack, Naveed Akram told his mother he was going fishing outside the city. However, authorities believe he holed up in a rented apartment with his father to plan the attack.

They fired long guns at the swimmer-filled beach for 10 minutes before police shot and killed the 50-year-old father. The son, meanwhile, remains in a coma in hospital under police custody.

Hours after the shooting, police found a pipe bomb in a car parked near the stricken beach and said the “improvised explosive device” was likely planted by the attackers.

The dead included a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a local rabbi, while 42 others were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries.

Australian authorities agreed on Monday to strengthen laws allowing the father, Sajid, to own six firearms.

Massacres have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the seaside resort of Port Arthur in 1996. The massacre sparked an unprecedented crackdown, including a gun buyback program and restrictions on semi-automatic weapons.

The recent attack on Bondi Beach has also reignited accusations that Australia is lagging behind in the fight against anti-Semitism. The president of the Australian Jewish Association, Robert Gregory, told AFP the government had “failed to take adequate measures to protect the Jewish community”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Australia’s decision to recognize the state of Palestine earlier this year “fueled even more anti-Semitism.”

In a gesture of solidarity, more than 7,000 people donated blood for the injured on Monday, a record number, according to the Australian Red Cross.

A makeshift ornate memorial on Bondi Beach was also packed on Monday evening, with families gathering to honor the victims and celebrate the second day of Hanukkah.

Car with Islamic State flags

The vehicle used by the father and son who opened fire on a crowd at a popular Sydney beach contained two flags of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, as well as explosives, Australian police said on Tuesday.