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TerrorismAustralia

Bondi shooters threw unexploded pipe bombs at crowd — police

Kate Hairsine with AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa
December 22, 2025

The two gunmen threw home-made explosive devices into the crowd at the Bondi beach, but the bombs failed to go off, according to court documents. The father-son duo also practiced with firearms in rural Australia.

The image shows Navee A. holding a weapon and walking down a large grassy area. It was in a police document released by a Sydney court on December 22, 2025.
This screenshot, taken from a video on Naveed A.'s phone, shows him training with his father, police sayImage: NSW Police/REUTERS

Newly released court documents have revealed a mass of new information about the Australian police investigation into the Bondi beach shooting

Key points:

  • The two gunmen who carried out the Bondi beach shooting threw explosive devices into the crowd, police say
  • The four devices failed to go off but were 'viable'
  • The son, Naveed A., trained with his father in rural Australia, police say
  • Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologized to Australia's Jewish community
  • The terror attack targeted Jewish people celebrating a Hanukkah event, killing 15

The surviving suspect, Naveed A., conducted "firearms training" in rural Australia with his father, according to reports by Australian media citing police documents released by a Sydney court on Monday.

Police found "a number of relevant videos" on Naveed A.'s cell phone, which show the pair allegedly "adhered to a religiously motivated violent extremism ideology."

In one video, the two sit in front of an Islamic State flag, with four rifles and ammunition next to them.

Bondi Beach shooters likely driven by 'IS' ideology

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The son is seen reciting a passage from the Koran in the video, according to the released documents. The two then make statements "regarding their motivation for the 'Bondi attack'," officials said.

The father, 50-year-old Sajid A. was shot dead by police during the attack, and the son was initially taken to hospital with serious gunshot wounds.

On Monday, Naveed A. was transferred to a correctional facility, according to ABC. He is facing a trial for 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act.

Gunmen threw pipe bombs, tennis ball bomb at Hanukkah celebration

The police statement also claims that Naveed A., and his father threw four improvised explosive devices toward the crowd celebrating a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025.

The three pipe bombs, filled with steel ball bearings, failed to explode, police said. A preliminary police analysis, however, found the bombs were "viable." A "tennis ball bomb" was also thrown.

Another home-made explosive device was found in the car the two had used to drive to Bondi to carry out the attack.

The gunmen used bombs which failed to go off, and kept an additional device in their car, police sayImage: NSW Police/REUTERS

Australia's NSW to push through tough gun laws

The government of New South Wales, the Australian state where the attack took place, introduced tough draft gun laws on Monday.

Sajid A. who was an Indian citizen and held an Australian permanent resident visa, legally owned six rifles and shotguns.

The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. They also reduce the legal limit to recreational shooters to four guns. The draft legislation is likely to be fast-tracked through parliament before Christmas, according to ABC.

In Australia, the laws on gun ownership differ from state to state.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been criticized for rising antisemitism in AustraliaImage: Dominic Giannini/AAP/dpa/picture alliance

Australian prime minister booed at vigil

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologized on Monday to Australia's Jewish community.

"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.

The prime minister was booed at a vigil held on Sunday evening for the victims of the Bondi attack.

Albanese faces pressure over his government's perceived failure to stem antisemitism in Australia, which has risen dramatically since the October 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel, and Israel's war in Gaza.

Australia, home to some 117,000 Jews, has seen a number of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, schools and businesses in the past year. 

Australia's prime minister apologizes for Bondi attack

06:45

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Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic

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