A vehicle used by the father-and-son Bondi Beach gunmen contained two Isis flags as well as bombs, Australian police said today.
The vehicle found near the Sydney beach was registered to the son, and it contained “two homemade Isis flags” in addition to improvised explosive devices, New South Wales Police commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also said the father and son were likely driven by “Islamic State ideology” when they fired on Bondi Beach.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed opened fire on Jewish crowds thronging the famous beach for Hanukkah on Sunday evening, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more.
Authorities said the attack was designed to sow panic among the nation’s Jews but have so far given little detail on the gunmen’s deeper motivations.
Albanese gave one of the first hints today that the pair had been radicalised by an “ideology of hate”.
“It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State [Isis] ideology,” Albanese told national broadcaster ABC.
“With the rise of Isis more than a decade ago now, the world has been grappling with extremism and this hateful ideology,” he said in a separate interview.
Authorities are facing mounting questions over whether more could have been done to foil the attack.
Albanese said Naveed Akram, reportedly an unemployed bricklayer, had come to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019.
But he was not considered an imminent threat at the time.
“They interviewed him, they interviewed his family members, they interviewed people around him,” Albanese said.
“He was not seen at that time to be a person of interest.”
Police are still piecing together the duo’s movements in the lead-up to the shooting.
A key question is whether they met Islamic extremists on a trip to the Philippines in November this year, local media reported.
On the day of the attack, Naveed reportedly told his mother he was heading out of the city on a fishing trip.
Instead, authorities believed he was holed up in a rental apartment with his father plotting the assault.
Carrying long-barrelled guns, they peppered the beach with bullets for 10 minutes before police shot and killed 50-year-old Sajid.
Naveed, 24, remains in a coma in hospital under police guard.
Hours after the shooting, police found a homemade bomb in a car parked close to the beach, saying the “improvised explosive device” had likely been planted by the pair.
Australia’s leaders agreed on Monday to toughen laws that allowed Sajid to own six guns.
Desperate to help, Australians have lined up in their thousands to donate blood to the wounded.
Red Cross Australia said more than 7000 people had given blood on Monday, smashing the previous national record.
Albanese visited Bondi Beach shooting hero Ahmed al-Ahmed in hospital today, lauding his efforts to help stop the nation’s deadliest gun attack in decades.
Footage showed the fruit seller ducking between parked cars as the shooting unfolded and then wresting a gun from one of the assailant’s hands.
“He was trying to get a cup of coffee and found himself at a moment where people were being shot in front of him,” Albanese said after a bedside visit with heavily bandaged Ahmed.
“He decided to take action and his bravery is an inspiration for all Australians.”
Ahmed was shot several times in the shoulder after tussling with one of the gunmen.
Albanese said he would “undergo further surgery” on Wednesday.
“At a moment where we have seen evil perpetrated, he shines out as an example of the strength of humanity,” the Prime Minister said. “We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country.”
An online fundraiser has received more than A$1.9 million in donations for Ahmed’s medical fees.
- Agence France-Presse