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Bondi Beach shooting suspect trained with father before attack, police say

Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, Sajid Akram, allegedly attacked people at a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach on 14 December, killing victims aged 10 to 87 and injuring 40 others.

Fifty-year-old Sajid Akram was killed by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram has been charged with 59 offences, including a terror charge.

New South Wales Police have released pictures of Naveed Akram and his father holding guns, as they “conducted firearms training in a countryside location, suspected to be NSW” in late October, according to a police fact sheet seen by Sky News.

“The accused and his father are seen throughout the video firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner,” police said.

Police said Naveed Akram’s mother told officers that she believed her husband and son were on a fishing trip and that Naveed had been calling her every day from a public phone around 10.30am.

On the day of the Bondi Beach attack, the pair allegedly threw homemade bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the crowd, but these did not detonate, police said in the fact sheet.

Police said they had stored the explosives – three pipe bombs, one tennis ball bomb and one large IED – in a silver Hyundai vehicle, alongside two single-barrel shotguns, a Beretta rifle, and two Islamic State flags.

The Hyundai was parked near the scene of the shooting, with the Islamic State flags allegedly displayed in the front and rear windows.

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