Bondi gunmen conducted âtacticalâ training in countryside, police say
Two suspects in last weekâs deadly mass shooting at Australiaâs Bondi Beach trained for the attack in the countryside, police alleged in court documents on
Two suspects in last weekâs deadly mass shooting at Australiaâs Bondi Beach trained for the attack in the countryside, police alleged in court documents on Monday (December 22, 2025), as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed tougher laws against hate speech and extremism. Father and son Sajid Akram and Naveed are accused of targeting a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in the nationâs deadliest mass shooting in almost three decades. Police documents released on Monday (December 22, 2025) said the two had carried out âfirearms trainingâ in what was believed to be the New South Wales countryside prior to the shooting. Pictures were released showing the accused firing shotguns and moving in what authorities described as a âtactical mannerâ. The pair also recorded a video in October railing against âZionistsâ while sitting in front of a flag of the Islamic State Group and detailing their motivations for the attack, police said. And they made a nighttime âreconnaissanceâ trip to Bondi Beach just days before the killings, documents showed. Explosives thrown before shooting, but failed to detonate The suspects also threw explosives at onlookers during last Sundayâs attack, which did not detonate, police said.
Australia observed a minuteâs silence at 6:47 pm (0747 GMT) on Sunday -- exactly a week since the first reports of gunfire. On Monday, Mr. Albanese said he would push for tough new laws creating âan aggravated offence for hate preachingâ. âWeâre not going to let the ISIS inspired terrorists win. We wonât let them divide our society, and weâll get through this together,â Albanese told reporters. âAs Prime Minister, I feel the weight of responsibility for an atrocity that happened whilst Iâm Prime Minister, and Iâm sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole has experienced,â he said. And he apologised to the Jewish community âand our nation as a wholeâ for what took place. âThe government will work every day to protect Jewish Australians, to protect the fundamental right as Australians that they have to be proud of who they are, to practice their faith, to educate their children and to engage in Australian society in the fullest way possible,â he added. Crackdown on guns, âterrorist symbolsâ Australiaâs federal government has flagged a suite of reforms to gun ownership and hate speech laws, as well as a review of police and intelligence services.
Albanese also announced last week a sweeping buyback scheme to âget guns off our streetsâ. It is the largest gun buyback since 1996, when Australia cracked down on firearms in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 35 people at Port Arthur. And the government of New South Wales â where the shooting took place â recalled its parliament for two days on Monday to introduce what it called the âtoughest firearm reforms in the countryâ. âWe canât pretend that the world is the same as it was before that terrorist incident on Sunday,â New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters. âIâd give anything to go back a week, a month, two years, to ensure that didnât happen, but we need to make sure that we take steps so that it never happens again.â The new rules will cap the number of guns an individual can own to four, or ten for exempted individuals like farmers. There are more than 1.1 million firearms in the state, officials said. The legislation would also ban the display of âterrorist symbolsâ, including the flag of the Islamic State, which was found in a car linked to one of the alleged shooters.