The Bondi Beach mass shooting appears to have been motivated by “Islamic State ideology”, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday.
Speaking to ABC Sydney, Mr Albanese suggested that the “ideology of hate” was likely to have inspired two gunmen to kill 15 people during the Jewish religious festival of Hanukkah on Sunday.
"It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology," he said in a reference to the terror group. “The ideology that has been around for more than a decade that led to this ideology of hate, and in this case, a preparedness to engage in mass murder.”
He added that all of the information received by police so far indicated that the two gunmen acted alone.
His comments came after it was revealed that one of the gunmen involved in the shooting was previously investigated for links to a Sydney-based Islamic State terrorist cell.
Naveed Akram, 24, was the subject of a six-month investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2019 but had been ruled out as a risk after an “assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence”.
Mr Albanese said Akram had been investigated “on the basis of being associated with others” involved with suspected terrorist activity, two of whom were subsequently jailed.
The 24-year-old, along with his family and acquaintances, had been interviewed by ASIO but was “not seen at the time as a person of interest”, the Australian leader said.
“Now, whether he was radicalised further after that, what the circumstances are, that’s the subject of further investigation.”
The recently unemployed bricklayer, and his shop owner father, Sajid Akram, 50, opened fire during the Jewish religious festival of Hanukkah on Sunday, killing at least 15 people including a 10-year-old girl.
The pair are reported to have pledged allegiance to Isis during the killings and flags associated with the group are said to have been found in their car.
However, Mr Albanese said that there is no evidence that the Akrams were associated with a wider terrorist group, and said the paid had acted alone. But they had clearly been motivated by an extremist ideology, the prime minister continued.
“There's no evidence of collusion, no evidence that these people were part of a cell,” the Australian leader told the country’s national broadcaster, ABC.
The tragedy has prompted Australia to look again at its gun laws. A meeting of the country’s national cabinet concluded “strong, decisive and focused action was needed on gun law reform as an immediate action” after Sajid was confirmed to be a licensed weapons holder, owning six registered firearms and holding a recreation category A/B license.
The cabinet committed to several actions including using criminal intelligence in licensing, limiting firearm ownership and certain types of guns and requiring Australian citizenship for licenses.
Several victims were named in the aftermath of the shooting including Matilda, a “bright” and “joyful” 10-year-old girl, Eli Schlanger, a 41-year-old British rabbi, and Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman.
At least 27 people continue to receive treatment in hospital, six of whom remain in critical condition. The injured include two police officers, one of whom was named as Constable Scott Dyson, who is said to have sustained serious injuries but remains in a stable condition.
Over $1.7m (£844,000) has been raised for a “hero” fruit shop owner who was seen tackling one of men to the ground before wrestling his rifle away from him.
Father-of-two Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, told his cousin that he “went down to save people’s lives” after lying in ambush before attacking the man.
He told Jozay Alkanj to pass a message on to his family in the event that he was killed, after being shot himself. “I’m going to die — please see my family [and tell them] that I went down to save people’s lives”, he is reported to have said.
Mr Ahmed sustained bullet wounds to his arm and hand and is said to be in “good spirits”.
His father, Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed said: “My son is a hero, he served with the police and in the central security forces, and he has the impulse to protect people.
“When he saw people lying on the ground, and the blood everywhere, immediately his conscience and his soul compelled him to pounce on one of the terrorists and to rid him of his weapon.
“I feel pride and honour, because my son is a hero of Australia.”
Sajid was shot dead at the scene of the crime while Naveed sustained critical injuries and was taken to hospital under police guard. He is expected to survive and will potentially face criminal charges.
Sir Keir Starmer reassured the Jewish community in the UK calling the incident “an appalling antisemitic attack”.
“This is clearly not an isolated incident,” he told a parliamentary liaison committee on Monday. “I want to reassure our Jewish communities here in the United Kingdom that we will take every step that we can, [and] use all of our powers, to make sure they're safe and secure as they should be in the United Kingdom.”
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