More than ten people were killed in a terrorist attack during a free public event celebrating: Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia
Two suspected shooters opened fire at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday, December 14, killing nine people and wounding multiple others in an attack that spread panic, with bodies reported lying on the ground.
More than ten people were killed in a terrorist attack during a free public event celebrating the first night of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on sunday night. Authorities say two Islamic terrorists opened fire with rifles before being subdued and arrested by New South Wales Police.
A further 18 people are in hospital, with paramedics treating more at the scene near where a Hanukah event was taking place. Follow updates live.
“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. Crowds fled in fear from the beach in eastern Sydney, which draws huge numbers of surfers, swimmers and tourists, especially at weekends.
Emergency services first responded to reports of shots being fired at 6:45pm local time, 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.
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.
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, an AFP journalist at the scene said.
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 shot-gun was lying by a tree by the beach.
A British tourist told AFP he saw “two shooters in black” after the gunfire broke out. “There was a shooting, two shooters in black with semi-automatic rifles,” Timothy Brant-Coles told AFP, saying he saw multiple people who had been shot and wounded.
Another witness, 30-year-old local resident Harry Wilson, told the Sydney Morning Herald he saw “at least 10 people on the ground and blood everywhere.”
Sydney is home to an estimated 43,738 Jews, according to figures cited from the 2021 census. Bondi Beach is located on the east shore of Sydney, approximately 9.5 kilometers from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
As of publication, authorities had not released the identities of the victims or suspects.
