Bomb failures averted ‘far worse’ carnage at Bondi
If the shrapnel-filled bombs allegedly thrown by two gunmen into a Hanukkah crowd had exploded, the death toll in the Bondi massacre could have been four times higher.
As the fallout from the December 14 attack continues, the alleged terror plot by Islamic State-inspired attackers was “entirely foreseeable”, experts say.
Surviving gunman Naveed Akram, 24, and his dead father Sajid Akram, 50, are accused of carrying out the worst mass shooting in Australia since 1996 when they opened fire on a crowd of Jewish believers at Bondi Beach.
Community leaders have urged people to return to Sydney’s landmark as an injured police officer was released from hospital in a “miracle” for his family and another woke up from a coma.
Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh said it was understandable that people had stayed away from the famous beach since the attack, but now was the time to return and support local traders.
“There’s no better way to show your appreciation than by spending some money,” he said.
The full case against Naveed was revealed in court documents that highlight how he and his father, who was killed during the attack, planned and carried out the massacre.
But experts say the death toll could have been much worse had the gunmen been able to detonate the five homemade bombs they allegedly threw into the crowd.
International security and counter-terrorism expert Allan Orr claimed that the duo were competent in using firearms, but did not have the technical knowledge to activate the bombs that police later found at the scene.
“These were simple pipe bombs, they just had to be set off,” he told AAP.
“If those bombs had gone off, you probably could have tripled or quadrupled the body count.”
Dr Orr said authorities missed many opportunities in the lead-up to the attack.
These included the couple traveling to a known terrorism hotspot in the Philippines, their phones not being tracked, their ability to buy six guns despite being on a person’s watch list, and their ability to search the area in the previous days.
“This is a multi-layered failure at every level,” he said.
Dr Orr described the pair’s trip to the archipelago the month before the massacre as a “huge red flag”.
“This was an intelligence failure of 9/11 proportions in terms of surprise… but it was completely predictable,” he said.
Police allege the attackers used two single-barreled shotguns and a Beretta rifle in the attack, as well as three failed pipe bombs filled with steel balls and a “tennis ball bomb.”
It is claimed that the couple examined the massacre site approximately 48 hours before the attack.
Radicalization, extremism and terrorism expert Clarke Jones also said the “well-planned, sophisticated conspiracy” could lead to even more disastrous consequences.
Religious extremism and radicalization expert Josh Roose suggested that the pair’s father-son relationship made them a “remarkably unique outlier” and that their “reasonably sophisticated” planning meant they may have escaped the attention of authorities.
“The way they moved and worked showed a basic level of tactical training,” Dr Roose said.
11 people injured in the clashes are still in hospital, three of them are in critical but stable condition.
Parole Officer Jack Hibbert, who was injured in the attack, was the last person to be released from hospital on Tuesday.
“It truly feels like a miracle that our Jack is home, especially for Christmas,” his family said.
His colleague, Constable Scott Dyson, woke up from a medically induced coma after undergoing surgery almost every day since he was injured in the attack.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has resisted setting up a national royal commission, while supporting a state-based inquiry and launching a more limited review of federal intelligence and law enforcement.
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