Bondi Beach | Pakistan

Australian police said they would bolster staffing at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the fifth Ashes Test starting on Sunday, weeks after gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish event in the city. The father-and-son gunmen are alleged to have carried out the attack at a Hanukkah event at the famed Bondi Beach on December 14. Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost three decades shocked the nation and stoked fears of rising antisemitism in the country. The massacre has sparked more active policing in Sydney, Australia’s most populous city and the capital of New South Wales state. Authorities on Saturday announced a “high-visibility” police presence for the marquee cricket series between Australia and England, which is held every two years. Measures at the cricket ground, some 5km from Bondi Beach, would include the riot patrol unit, officers on horseback and officers carrying rifles. “The difference will be in the visibility of long arms and a stronger presence,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon sai...

A father and son accused of a mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach “acted alone” and were not part of a wider terrorist cell, police said on Tuesday. Sajid Akram and his son Naveed allegedly killed 15 people in an ISIS-inspired attack targeting a Jewish festival on December 14. The pair travelled to the southern Philippines in the weeks before shooting, fuelling suspicions they may be linked to extremists. Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett said so far, this did not appear to be the case. “These individuals are alleged to have acted alone,” she told reporters. “There is no evidence to suggest these alleged offenders were part of a broader terrorist cell, or were directed by others to carry out the attack.” Barrett said police would continue to probe why the pair travelled to the city of Davao, where CCTV showed they barely left their budget hotel. “I want to be clear. I am not suggesting they were there for tourism,” she said. Police believe the duo “meticulously planned” the attack for...

Bondi Beach shooting hero Ahmed al Ahmed recalled the moment he ran towards one of the attackers and wrestled the gun from him, saying in an interview published Monday with a US outlet he wanted to protect “innocent people”. Father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram are accused of targeting a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people and wounding dozens in what authorities have described as an anti-Semitic terrorist attack. Despite the tragedy, tales of heroism emerged of those who tried to stop the two gunmen during their deadly rampage. Among them was Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit seller, who went viral for ducking between parked cars as the shooting unfolded and then wresting a gun from one of the assailants. “My target was just to take the gun from him, and to stop him from killing a human being’s life and not killing innocent people,” he told CBS News in an interview that airs on Monday. “I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost.” Ahmed was shot several times in the shoulde...

Australia honoured the victims on Sunday of a gun attack a week earlier on a seaside Hanukkah celebration, as the prime minister announced a review of the country’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The nation marked a day of reflection to honour the 15 people killed and the dozens wounded in the attack by two gunmen at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. With security tight and flags at half-staff on government buildings, a minute of silence was held at 6:47pm (12:47pm PKT), the time the attack began. Television and radio networks paused for a minute’s silence. Tens of thousands, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other leaders, attended a memorial event at Bondi Beach under a heavy police presence, including snipers on rooftops and police boats in the waters. Albanese was booed by the crowd on arrival and later when the speaker mentioned his name during the memorial. He sat in the front row wearing a kippah, the traditional Jewish cap. Albanese, under pressure from critics who say his centre-left gove...

In a meeting with Australian High Commissioner Tim Kane on Friday in Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences over the tragic shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney last week and condemned the attack. Fifteen people were killed, and dozens were wounded last Sunday in Bondi after two gunmen opened fire at people celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. The PML-N posted on social media that the newly appointed high commissioner of Australia called on Shehbaz at the PM’s House today. It added that he conveyed deepest condolences over the tragic loss of innocent lives in the terrorist shooting incident at Bondi Beach, saying that Pakistan unequivocally condemned the cowardly act of terrorism. While reaffirming Pakistan’s solidarity with Australia in its hour of grief, it said, PM Shehbaz emphasised that terrorism had no religion and it must be condemned in all forms and manifestations. He added that collective action was required to eradicate this menace. Deputy Prime Minister and...

HYDERABAD (INDIA)/MANILA - Indian police on Tuesday confirmed that one of the two gunmen behind Australia’s Bondi Beach mass shootings, Sajid Akram, was an Indian citizen who had left the country 27 years ago.

A Pakistan-origin man living in Sydney has said he had received death threats and was “terrified” to leave his home after his photo was widely shared online as the gunman responsible for the Bondi Beach shooting, it emerged on Monday. Two gunmen on Sunday had opened fire at a Hanukkah gathering in Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 in Australia’s worst incident of gun violence since 1996. Police have not yet disclosed the names of the suspects, who happen to be father and son, or their motives. However, various news outlets identified them as Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, respectively. The father first came to Australia in 1998 on a student visa, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters on Monday. He was killed at the scene. His son — an Australian-born citizen according to the home affairs minister — is critically injured and being treated in a Sydney hospital bed under police guard. Photos of a beaming man in a green Pakistan cricket jersey had subsequently pinged across social media. Some of the posts...