11 Killed in Terror Attack on a Jewish Event in Australia, One Shooter Killed, Another Arrested

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 14: At least 11 people were killed, and one of the shooters was also shot dead, when two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish religious event being held Bondi Beach in eastern Sydney, Australia’s most famous beach drawing huge numbers of surfers, swimmers and tourists especially at weekends, Australian authorities said declaring the mass shooting a “terrorist attack.”

According to witnesses, around 50 shots were fired during the shooting that took place on the Sunday afternoon. Police have said one of the gunmen was killed in retaliatory firing, and about 11 people, including cops, have been injured. Mal Lanyon, the New South Wales Police Commissioner, has declared the shooting a “terrorist incident.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the scenes in Bondi are “shocking and distressing”. “Police and emergency responders are on the ground working to save lives. My thoughts are with every person affected. I have just spoken to the AFP Commissioner and with the NSW Premier. We are working with the NSW Police and will provide further updates as more information is confirmed. I urge people in the vicinity to follow information from the NSW Police,” he said in a statement.

The suspect was in critical condition, authorities said. A massive emergency response was underway, with injured people loaded into ambulances. At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, said Mal Lanyon. Two of those hurt were police officers. “This attack was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community,” the state’s Premier Chris Minns said. The massacre was declared a terrorist attack due to the event targeted and weapons used, Mal Lanyon said.

Hundreds had gathered for an event at Bondi Beach called Chanukah by the Sea, which was celebrating the start of the Hanukkah Jewish festival. Dramatic footage apparently filmed by a member of the public and broadcast on Australian television channels showed someone appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man’s weapon at him.

Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, was waiting for his family nearby when he heard shots, he said. He dropped the beer he was carrying for his brother and ran. “You heard a few pops, and I freaked out and ran away. … I started sprinting. I just had that intuition. I sprinted as quickly as I could,” Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes. “Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible,” Moran said.

Police said their operation was “ongoing” and that a “number of suspicious items located in the vicinity” were being examined by specialist officers, including an improvised explosive device found in one of the suspect’s cars. Emergency services were called to Campbell Parade about 6.45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired.

Local news outlets spoke to distressed and bloody bystanders. Mr Lanyon said the death toll from the shooting was “fluid” and that injured people were still arriving at hospitals. “Our heart bleeds for Australia’s Jewish community tonight,” Minns told reporters in Sydney. “I can only imagine the pain that they’re feeling right now to see their loved ones killed as they celebrate this ancient holiday.”

“A number of suspicious items located in the vicinity are being examined by specialist officers and an exclusion zone is in place,” police said in a statement. Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned it, however, as a “cruel attack on Jews” and urged the Australian authorities to step up the fight against anti-Semitism.

One witness said he personally witnessed six dead or injured bodies lying on the beach. The grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was strewn with discarded items from people fleeing too fast to pack up, including an abandoned children’s stroller, reports said. Paramedics tended to multiple people lying on the grass by the beach, images broadcast by public broadcaster ABC showed. A weapon that appeared to be a pump action shot-gun was lying by a tree by the beach.

A British tourist said he saw “two shooters in black” after the gunfire broke out. “There was a shooting, two shooters in black with semi-automatic rifles,” he said adding that he saw multiple people who had been shot and wounded.

Mass shooting deaths in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms. Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014, and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.

The shooting took place on the first night of the eight-day Jewish festival Hanukkah. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the gunmen opened fire just after 6.30 pm (Australian time) when hundreds of people had gathered on the beach for a seaside event to mark the beginning of the Jewish festival.

One of the people who attended the event said the shooters targeted children and the elderly indiscriminately. Visuals showed some people performing CPR on others. Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley said Australians are in deep mourning, “with hateful violence striking at the heart of an iconic Australian community, a place we all know so well and love, Bondi”.

“The loss of life from this attack is significant and I join with the Prime Minister in urging all Australians to follow official advice from police and relevant authorities. This attack occurred as our Jewish community came together at the Chanukah by the Sea celebration. This was a celebration of peace and hope for the future, severed by hate,” she said.

The Australian Jewish Association slammed the Albanese administration over the shooting and said Jews in the country are now worried about their future. “What happened tonight is a tragedy but entirely foreseeable. The Albanese government was warned so many times, but failed to take adequate action to protect the Jewish community. Tonight, many Jews are pondering whether they have a future in Australia. Our thoughts are with our community and all the impacted, some of whom we are close to,” the association said.

It also hit out at the Prime Minister for his post, which did not mention that it was a Jewish event. “Doesn’t even mention that it was a Jewish event. What a shameful disgrace! PM Albanese avoids even mentioning that it was the Jewish community targeted and Jews shot,” it said.

One of the alleged Bondi Beach shooters has been identified as Naveed Akram from Bonnyrigg, Sydney, according to a senior law enforcement official. Police raided the 24-year-old’s home Sunday evening as part of the ongoing investigation.

Naveed Akram, 24, is originally from Lahore, Pakistan, and was a student at Sydney’s al-Murad Institute, social media reports indicate. He is seen wearing a Pakistan cricket jersey in a license photo circulating online. Of the two gunmen involved, one was killed at the scene while the other was hospitalised in critical condition, authorities said. They are investigating whether a third gunman or any accomplices were involved.

A vehicle in Campbell Parade, Bondi, was found to contain several improvised explosive devices. “A rescue bomb disposal unit is there at the moment working on the vehicle,” Lanyon added. “The types of weapons… some of the other items we found at the scene – as I said, we have found the improvised explosive device in a car which is linked to the deceased offender,” Commissioner Lanyon said.