The 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, Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, authorities have said. The older man was shot dead while his son was seriously injured and in the hospital as of Tuesday. Authorities have called the shooting an antisemitic terrorist attack.

A news conference by political and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday was the first time officials confirmed their beliefs about the suspects’ ideologies. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the remarks were based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.”

“The ideology that has been around for more than a decade that led to this ideology of hate, and in this case, a preparedness to engage in mass murder,” he said.

Albanese said Naveed Akram came 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. 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,” Albanese added.

Three more victims of the massacre were identified on Tuesday: Russian-Jewish couple Sofia and Boris Gurman, who fought with one of the gunmen before they were both shot dead, and Edith Brutman, who was active in the Jewish community and a longtime B’nai Brith member.

There are 25 of the attackers’ victims still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition. Three are being treated at a children’s hospital.

Also among the injured is Ahmed al Ahmed, who was captured on video tackling and disarming the father, Sajid Akram, before pointing the man’s weapon at him and then setting it on the........

© The Times of Israel