By Christine Chen
SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Two alleged gunmen who attacked a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach had travelled to the Philippines before the assault, which killed 15 people, and appeared to be inspired by Islamic State, police said on Tuesday.
The attack on Sunday was Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
The death toll stands at 16, including one of the alleged gunmen, identified by police as Sajid Akram, 50, who was shot by police. The man's 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice, identified by local media as Naveed Akram, was in critical condition in hospital after also being shot.
AUTHORITIES PROBING PHILIPPINES TRIP
Australian police said on Tuesday both men had travelled to the Philippines last month and the purpose of the trip is under investigation.
Philippine immigration officials said both men travelled to Manila and onward to Davao in the south of the country on November 1 and left on November 28, just weeks before the Bondi shooting.
The father travelled on an Indian passport, while the son was on an Australian passport, officials said, adding it was not conclusive they were linked to any terrorist group or whether they received training in the country.
Islamic state-linked networks are known to operate in the Philippines and have wielded some influence in the south of the country. They have been reduced to weakened cells operating in the southern Mindanao island in recent years, far from the scale of influence they wielded during the 2017 Marawi siege.
"Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State, allegedly committed by a father and son," Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said at a news conference.
"These are the alleged actions of those who have aligned themselves with a terrorist organisation, not a religion."
Police also said the vehicle which is registered to the younger male contained improvised explosive devices and two homemade flags associated with ISIS, a militant group designated by Australia and many other countries as a terrorist organisation.
The father and son allegedly fired upon hundreds of people at the festival during a roughly 10-minute killing spree at one of Australia's top tourist destinations, forcing people to flee and take shelter before both were shot by police.
Videos have emerged of the younger shooter preaching Islam outside train stations in suburban Sydney. Authorities are still trying to piece together how he went down the path of violence.
MEMORIAL OF FLOWERS
Some 25 survivors are receiving care in several Sydney hospitals, officials said.
Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon visited Bondi on Tuesday and urged the Australian government to take all required steps to secure the lives of Jews in Australia.
"Only Australians of Jewish faith are forced to worship their gods behind closed doors, CCTV, guards," Maimon told reporters in Bondi, after laying flowers at the temporary memorial and paying his respects to the victims.
"My heart is torn apart ... it is insane."
Australia has seen a string of antisemitic incidents in the past 16 months, prompting the head of the nation's main intelligence agency to declare that antisemitism was his top priority in terms of threat to life.
At Bondi, the beach was open on Tuesday but was largely empty under overcast skies, as a growing memorial of flowers was established at the Bondi Pavilion, metres from the location of the shootings.
Olivia Robertson, 25, visited the memorial before work.
"This is the country that our grandparents have come to for us to feel safe and to have opportunity," she said.
"And now this has happened right here in our backyard. It's pretty shocking."
Ahmed al Ahmed, the 43-year-old Muslim father-of-two who charged at one of the gunmen and seized his rifle, remains in a Sydney hospital with gunshot wounds. He has been hailed as a hero around the world, including by U.S. President Donald Trump.
A GoFundMe campaign set up for Ahmed has raised more than A$1.9 million ($1.26 million).
Thousands of Australians queued outside blood donation centres across the country to donate blood, responding to calls from medical agencies.
TOUGHER GUN LAWS
Australia's gun laws are now being examined by the federal government, after police said Sajid Akram was a licenced gun owner and had six registered weapons. Akram received his gun licence in 2023, not 2015 as had been earlier stated, police said on Tuesday.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said gun laws introduced by the previous conservative Liberal-National coalition government following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania needed to be re-examined.
Former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard, who introduced the gun restrictions in 1996, said on Tuesday he didn't want to see gun law reform become a "diversion" from the need to tackle antisemitism.
The 15 victims ranged from a rabbi who was a father of five, to a Holocaust survivor and a 10-year-old girl named Matilda Britvan, according to interviews, officials and media reports. Two police officers remained in critical but stable condition in hospital, New South Wales police said.
Matilda’s aunt, Lina Chernykh, said the family was devastated by her death.
"We will be forever heartbroken," she said.
($1 = 1.5101 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Christine Chen and Renju Jose in Sydney. Additional reporting Kirsty Needham, Byron Kaye, Alasdair Pal in Sydney and Karen Lema in Manila; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Stephen Coates, Lincoln Feast, Michael Perry and Sharon Singleton)
