Two gunmen shot and killed 11 people and wounded many others at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday in a “terrorist” attack on a gathering for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
Emergency responders rushed at least 29 people to local hospitals from the beach, 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, they added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed ordinary citizens who tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen as “heroes”.
Police declared the shooting a “terrorist incident” and said they had found suspected “improvised explosive devices” in a vehicle near the beach that was linked to the deceased suspect.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith — an act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation,” Albanese said.
“An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian,” Albanese said.
The shooting took place during an annual “Hanukkah by the Sea” event at Bondi Beach which police said was attended by over a thousand people.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the shooting as a “cruel attack on Jews” and urged the Australian authorities to step up the fight against antisemitism.
And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australia’s government of having fuelled anti-Jewish sentiment in the period leading up to the shooting.
As gunfire erupted, 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 6:47 pm (0747 GMT).
One witness who declined to be named said he saw six dead or wounded people lying on the beach.
The grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was strewn with discarded items from people fleeing, including an abandoned children’s stroller, an AFP journalist at the scene said.
Paramedics tended to wounded people lying on the grass, 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.
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.