Bondi terror suspects threw unexploded bombs at crowd and practiced shooting ahead of attack, document reveals
- - Bondi terror suspects threw unexploded bombs at crowd and practiced shooting ahead of attack, document reveals
Hilary Whiteman, Dhruv Tikekar, CNNDecember 21, 2025 at 11:46 PM
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Screenshots from videos allegedly show Naveed Akram practicing shooting in a rural location, suspected to be in New South Wales. - New South Wales Police
The father and son accused of carrying out Australia’s worst terror attack undertook firearms training at an undisclosed location in the countryside, according to a statement of alleged facts released by a magistrate Monday.
The court document, which contains redactions, includes images from a video of Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, depicting the pair holding rifles and moving in a way that suggests an element of tactical training.
“The accused and his father are seen throughout the video firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner,” the document states.
Fifteen people were killed in the shooting at Bondi Beach on December 14, which authorities said targeted a crowd of Jewish families celebrating Hannukah. Sajid Akram was shot dead by police. His son faces a terror charge and 15 counts of murder, along with 40 of attempted murder.
The alleged facts state the pair threw four improvised devices at the crowd, moments before they started shooting, though none of them detonated. The document states the three pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb were all viable.
Police allege the shooters packed an IED in the trunk of their vehicle. - New South Wales Police
Three pipe bombs and tennis ball bomb were allegedly found at the scene. - New South Wales Police
Images of the IEDs were included in the document, including a fifth suspected bomb placed in the trunk of the vehicle they used to drive to Bondi to carry out the attack.
The pair are also alleged to have recorded videos in which they shared views suggesting they adhered to “religiously motivated violent extremism ideology.”
In one video recorded in front of an image of the Islamic State flag, the pair made statements “condemning the acts of Zionists” and appeared to “summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack,” the document added.
“There is evidence that the Accused and his father… meticulously planned this terrorist attack for many months,” the document said.
Alleged reconnaissance
The document adds to the emerging picture of events leading up to the attack.
The videos of the men allegedly conducting firearms training in a rural area, believed to be in New South Wales, were allegedly filmed in October. Previously police said they traveled to the Philippines in November, where they stayed for nearly a month and barely left their rooms, a hotel staff member told CNN.
The document released Monday reveals that the men visited the site of the Bondi Beach attack on December 12. Closed circuit television showed the men walking along a footbridge near Archer Park, from which they’ve alleged to have shot their victims two days later.
“Police allege that this is evidence of reconnaissance and planning of a terrorist act,” the court document said.
The men are alleged to have visited Bondi Beach two days before the attack. - New South Wales Police
In the hours after the shooting police descended on an address on Bonnyrigg, west of Sydney’s city center, where they found two phones, a homemade firearm, a longbow with 12 arrows and a Quran with highlighted passages, the document said.
The elder man’s wife told police she believed he and her son were away on holiday in southern NSW. The son phoned her every day from a payphone to tell her what they planned to do that day, she said, according to the document.
It added that the day after the attack, police officers forced open the door of a rented room in Campsie, in southwestern Sydney, where the men were believed to have been staying. There, officers found 3D printed parts for a shotgun speed loader, bomb-making equipment, a long bow with 12 arrows and two copies of the Quran, one with an “earmarked page,” the statement of alleged facts said.
Riot police guarded Naveed Akram as he was transferred from Royal North Shore Hospital to an unnamed correctional facility on Monday, NSW Police said. He had been receiving “advanced medical treatment” after being shot in the abdomen, according to the court document.
From his hospital bed, he declined a request for a formal police interview on legal advice, the statement said. His next court date is in April.
The Bondi Beach shooting suspects seen leaving a rental in Campsie - New South Wales PolicePrime Minister apologizes
After being booed at a ceremony to mark one week since the terror attack on Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issued an apology to the Jewish community for what they’d been through.
“As prime minister, I feel the weight of responsibility for an atrocity that happened whilst I’m prime minister, and I’m sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole has experienced,” he said Monday.
On top of new laws targeting hate speech, the federal government announced plans on Monday to create a new aggravated offense for people who radicalize children. Of 33 people currently before the courts, 17 are children, said Attorney General Michelle Rowland.
“This unprecedented radicalization of our youth must stop,” she said. “We will not allow extremists to groom and brainwash our children into hate or terrorism.”
So far, Albanese has resisted calls for a federal royal commission –– the country’s highest level of formal inquiry –– from political opponents who say that the government’s plans to review law enforcement and intelligence agencies don’t go far enough.
In the aftermath of the shooting, state and federal governments have scrambled to propose new gun laws, with the NSW parliament convening an emergency session on Monday to debate capping the number of firearms recreational license holders can have at four.
Farmers would be limited to 10, provoking criticism from agricultural producers that the new laws are unworkable.
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