The two suspects in a deadly mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach carried out “tactical” training in the countryside, police alleged Monday, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologised to the country’s Jewish community and vowed tougher laws against extremism.
Father and son Sajid Akram and Naveed are accused of targeting a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in almost three decades.
Police documents released Monday said the two had carried out “firearms training” in what was believed to be the New South Wales countryside prior to the shooting.
They said the suspects “meticulously planned” the attack for months, releasing pictures showing them firing shotguns and moving in what they described as a “tactical manner”.
The pair also recorded a video in October railing against “Zionists” while sitting in front of a flag of the Islamic State jihadist group and detailing their motivations for the attack, police said.
And they made a nighttime reconnaissance trip to Bondi Beach just days before the killings, documents showed.
The suspects also threw explosives at onlookers during last Sunday’s attack, which did not detonate, police said.
Australia observed a minute’s silence at 6:47 pm (0747 GMT) on Sunday — exactly a week since the first reports of gunfire.
On Bondi Beach on Monday, things were gradually returning to normal.
Visitors still spent time in quiet reflection at a memorial set up for the victims, a few placing flowers against walls and on the bridge.
Facing growing political pressure over the attack, Albanese said he would push for tough new laws creating “an aggravated offence for hate preaching”.
“We’re not going to let the ISIS-inspired terrorists win. We won’t let them divide our society, and we’ll get through this together,” Albanese told reporters on Monday.
And he apologised to the Jewish community “and our nation as a whole” for what took place.
“The government will work every day to protect Jewish Australians, to protect the fundamental right as Australians that they have to be proud of who they are, to practice their faith, to educate their children and to engage in Australian society in the fullest way possible,” he added.
– Crackdown on guns, ‘terrorist symbols’ –
Australia’s federal government has flagged a suite of reforms to gun ownership and hate speech laws, as well as a review of police and intelligence services.
Albanese also announced a sweeping buyback scheme to “get guns off our streets”.
It is the largest gun buyback since 1996, when Australia cracked down on firearms in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 35 people at Port Arthur.
And the government of New South Wales — where the shooting took place — recalled its parliament for two days on Monday to introduce what it called the “toughest firearm reforms in the country”.
“We can’t pretend that the world is the same as it was before that terrorist incident on Sunday,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
“I’d give anything to go back a week, a month, two years, to ensure that didn’t happen, but we need to make sure that we take steps so that it never happens again.”
The new rules will cap the number of guns an individual can own to four, or 10 for exempted individuals like farmers.
There are more than 1.1 million firearms in the state, officials said.
The legislation would also ban the display of “terrorist symbols”, including the flag of the Islamic State, which was found in a car linked to one of the alleged shooters.
Authorities will also be able to prohibit protests for up to three months following a terrorism incident.
One of the alleged gunmen, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, was moved from hospital to jail on Monday, police said.
Minns said Monday he would also look into stricter hate speech legislation next year, including restrictions on the phrase “globalise the intifada”.
The phrase is a common chant at pro-Palestinian rallies and refers to uprisings against Israeli forces in the occupied territories.
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