KEY POINTS
- Two gunmen opened fire at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 11 people.
- New South Wales police declared the shooting a terrorist incident.
- One suspect was killed and the other remains in critical condition.
- The incident occurred on the day of a planned Jewish community event.
- Australian PM Albanese and global leaders condemned the attack as shocking and distressing.
SYDNEY, Australia: Two suspected shooters opened fire at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing 11 people and wounding multiple others in an attack that spread panic, with bodies reported lying on the ground.
Australian police said that the deadly shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was a “terrorist” incident.
“As a result of the circumstances of the incident tonight at 9:36 pm this evening, I declared this to be a terrorist incident,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told a news conference.
An annual “Chanukah by the Sea” gathering marking the Jewish festival of Hanukkah was planned at the beach Sunday afternoon, but officials have not commented on a possible antisemitic link.
In addition to the dead, 11 wounded were rushed to various hospitals at one of the biggest tourist draws in Australia’s largest city, said New South Wales police.
One of the alleged shooters was killed, and the second was in a critical condition, said authorities, who have not provided details on a possible motive for the violence.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned it, however, as a “cruel attack on Jews” and urged the Australian authorities to step up the fight against antisemitism.
Crowds fled in fear from the beach in eastern Sydney, which draws huge numbers of surfers, swimmers and tourists, especially at weekends.
“We heard the shots. It was shocking, it felt like 10 minutes of just bang, bang, bang. It seemed like a powerful weapon,” Camilo Diaz, a 25-year-old student from Chile, told AFP at the scene.
Emergency services first responded to reports of shots being fired at 6:45pm (0745 GMT), New South Wales police said.
“A number of suspicious items located in the vicinity are being examined by specialist officers and an exclusion zone is in place,” police said in a statement.
‘Blood everywhere’
One witness who declined to be named, cited by AFP, said he personally witnessed six dead or injured bodies lying on the beach.
The grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was strewn with discarded items from people fleeing too fast to pack up, including an abandoned children’s stroller.
Paramedics tended to multiple people lying on the grass by the beach, images broadcast by public broadcaster ABC showed.
A weapon that appeared to be a pump action shotgun was lying by a tree by the beach.
‘Shocking and distressing’
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the scenes at Bondi were “shocking and distressing”.
“My thoughts are with every person affected,” he said in a statement.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was “shocked” by the deadly shooting, which the bloc’s top diplomat condemned as an “appalling act of violence” against the Jewish community.
“Europe stands with Australia and Jewish communities everywhere. We are united against violence, antisemitism and hatred,” von der Leyen, the European Commission President, wrote on X.
“This appalling act of violence against the Jewish community must be unequivocally condemned,” added EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
