At least 12 dead after shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach; police declare ‘terrorist incident’

SYDNEY - Gunmen opened fire at a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec 14, killing at least 11 people in what Australian officials described as a targeted antisemitic attack.

One of the suspected gunmen was also killed. A second gunman was in critical condition and police were investigating whether a third attacker was involved, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told a press conference. Two police officers were among 29 people taken to hospital with injuries, he said.

Authorities said far more people would have been killed were it not for a bystander, identified by local media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, who was filmed

charging a gunman from behind

, grappling with him and wresting a rifle from his hands.

“There are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery,” said Mr Chris Minns, premier of New South Wales state where Sydney is located, calling the bystander “a genuine hero”.

A bomb-disposal unit was working on several suspected improvised explosive devices, Mr Lanyon said. Mr Mike Burgess, a top Australian intelligence official, said one of the suspected attackers was known to authorities but had not been deemed an immediate threat.

Evil ‘beyond comprehension’, Albanese says

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of the country’s national security council and condemned the attack, saying the evil that was unleashed was “beyond comprehension”.

“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” he said.

“At this dark moment for our nation, our police and security agencies are working to determine anyone associated with this outrage.”

Witnesses said the shooting at the famed beach on a hot summer’s evening lasted about 10 minutes, sending beach-goers scattering along the sand and into nearby streets and parks. Police said around 1,000 people had attended the Hanukkah event alone.

“I was just getting ready to go home, and, like, I was packing my bag, got my flip-flops, was ready to catch my bus, and then I started hearing the shots,” said Bondi Junction resident Marcos Carvalho, 38.

“We all panicked and started running as well. So we left everything behind, like flip-flops, everything. We just ran through the hill,” he said. “I must have heard, I don’t know, maybe, like, 40, 50 shots.”

The Sydney Morning Herald said multiple people had been injured after gunmen opened fire just after 6.30pm local time (3.30pm Singapore time) as hundreds attended a Jewish festival at the beach.

Television networks Sky and ABC aired footage showing people lying on the ground.

Bondi resident Grace Mathew said she saw people running past her and heard gunshots. “Initially you just think, it’s a beautiful day down by the beach,” she said. “You sort of think that people are just having a good time. Then more people ran past and said there’s a shooter, there’s a mass shooting and they’re killing people.”

Dec 14’s shootings were the most serious of a string of

anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars

in Australia since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

Australia’s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.

“If we were targeted deliberately in this way, it’s something of a scale that none of us could have ever fathomed. It’s a horrific thing,” Mr Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News, adding his media adviser had been wounded in the attack.

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the world’s safest countries. The Dec 14 attack was the worst such incident in the country since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist site in the southern state of Tasmania.

“Antisemitism has no place in this world. Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “cold-blooded murder”, and said he had

warned Albanese about antisemitism

before Australia, along with Britain, Canada and France, recognised a Palestinian state in September.

“Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets,” Mr Netanyahu said he had written to the Australian leader in August.

Muslim groups condemned the shooting.

“These acts of violence and crimes have no place in our society. Those responsible must be held fully accountable and face the full force of the law,” the Australian National Imams Council, the Council of Imams NSW and the Australian Muslim community said in a statement. “Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those who witnessed or were affected by this deeply traumatic attack.”

Videos circulating on X appeared to show people on Bondi Beach scattering as multiple gunshots and police sirens can be heard.

Another video showed two men pressed onto the ground by uniformed police on a small pedestrian bridge. Officers could be seen trying to resuscitate one of the men.

One video appeared to capture a bystander heroically wrestling a rifle off one of the alleged gunmen. The man can be seen approaching the shooter after he fires off a shot, before disarming him.

A different man was seen firing a weapon from a pedestrian bridge.

Singapore’s High Commission in Canberra urged Singaporeans in the vicinity of Bondi Beach near Sydney to monitor news from official sources and heed local authorities’ advice.

Those requiring help can contact local police by calling 000, or the high commission duty officer for emergency consular assistance on +61 414 733 944.

The attack came almost exactly 11 years after a lone gunman took 18 people hostage at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney. Two hostages and the gunman were killed after a 16-hour stand-off.

“Australians are in deep mourning tonight, with hateful violence striking at the heart of an iconic Australian community, a place we all know so well and love, Bondi,” said Ms Sussan Ley, the leader of Australia’s opposition Liberal Party. REUTERS