Bondi Beach mass shooting inspired by Islamic State, say Australian police

Australian police said the mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people was inspired by Islamic State ideology. Evidence including IS flags was recovered, prompting authorities to classify the attack as terrorism.

Sydney: A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday.

The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man was shot dead while his son was being treated at a hospital on Tuesday.

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Officials said at a news conference that they were making their first comments about the suspects’ ideologies because of evidence they had obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized”.

There are 25 people still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition.