The suspected perpetrators of the terrorist attack on December 14 in Sydney fired explosives that did not explode in the attack on the popular Bondi Beach, where 16 people died, including an attacker, according to a preliminary police statement from a local court, accessed by the Australian public broadcaster ABC this Monday (December 22, 2025).
The indictment alleges that the suspected attackers, identified as Naveed Akram, 24, and his father Sajid Akram, 50, who was killed by police, threw four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at a crowd celebrating a Jewish holiday, the same media that publishes photos of the devices reported.
Last week a Sydney court made an order keeping the police statement on the alleged Bondi incidents secret, which was lifted on Monday so it could be made public.
According to the text retrieved by ABC, agents said the two men parked their vehicle on Campbell Parade, Bondi, at around 6:50 p.m. local time (7:50 GMT) on the day of the attack and placed Islamic State (IS) flags on the front and rear windows, with whose ideology Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had previously linked the attack.
At least five homemade explosives
The police’s preliminary statement assumes that they then took three firearms as well as three homemade bombs and a bomb “in the shape of a tennis ball” from the vehicle and made their way to the crowd.
The thrown explosives did not explode, but were deemed “viable” by police, who claimed to have found a fifth explosive in the trunk of the car.
The statement mentions videos in which the two men “appear to justify the attack” and “conducting firearms training in a rural area, presumably New South Wales”.
“Throughout the video, the defendant and his father are seen firing shotguns and moving tactically,” says the document cited by ABC, which also references images of both of them sitting in front of an ISIS flag with long-range firearms.
The attack occurred eight days ago when two men armed with rifles opened fire on the crowd gathered in a park near Bondi Beach, one of Australia’s busiest and most touristy beaches, where nearly a thousand people were celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
14 people died at the scene – including one of the suspected attackers, who was shot – and two others died later in hospital, including a 10-year-old girl.
Police have filed 59 charges against Naveed Akram, including 15 for murder and one for terrorism.
jc (efe, The Guardian)
About The Author
