Australia PM says Bondi Beach attack driven by 'Islamic State ideology'

A father and son appeared to be driven by "Islamic State ideology" when they opened fire on a Jewish festival at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday.

Sajid Akram and his son Naveed killed 15 people in a mass shooting that targeted a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at the famous beach on Sunday evening.

Authorities have described the attack as an antisemitic act of terrorism, but have so far given little detail on the deeper motivations.

Albanese gave one of the first hints on Tuesday that the pair had been radicalised before committing "mass murder".

"It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology," Albanese said.

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"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.

Police found a car registered to Naveed Akram parked near the beach in the aftermath of the shooting.

They found improvised bombs and "two homemade ISIS flags", New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said on Tuesday, using another name for the Islamic State group. 

Authorities are facing mounting questions over whether they could have acted earlier to foil the attack.

Albanese said Naveed Akram, 24, had come to the attention of Australia's intelligence agency in 2019 – but he was not considered an imminent threat at the time.

"He was drawn to their attention because of his association with others ... They interviewed him, they interviewed his family members, they interviewed people around him," Albanese said.

"Two of the people he was associated with were charged and went to jail, but he was not seen at that time to be a person of interest."

Police are still piecing together the duo's movements before the shooting.

The Philippines Bureau of Immigration said on Tuesday that the two alleged gunmen behind travelled to the Philippines on November 1 from Sydney to Manila and onward to Davao. 

They departed on November 28 from Davao via Manila back to Sydney

Immigration records listed Sajid as an Indian national and his son as an Australian citizen, spokeswoman Dana Sandoval said.

It was not immediately clear what activities they undertook in the Philippines or whether they travelled elsewhere after landing in Davao, a city in Mindanao, a region where terrorist groups, including ISIS-linked factions, have operated.

Australian authorities are investigating whether they met with Islamist extremists during the trip, local media reported.

Naveed reportedly told his mother on the day of the attack that he was heading out of the city on a fishing trip. 

Instead, authorities believe that he was holed up in a rental apartment with his father plotting the assault.

Carrying long-barrelled guns, they peppered the beach and a nearby park 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.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)