Police: Bondi Beach shooting suspects had bombs, ISIS flags and recently traveled to Philippines

Australian officers commented Tuesday that the father and son who opened fire on families during a Hanukkah event at Sydney s Bondi Beach had packed their car with improvised explosive devices and homemade ISIS flags deepening fears that the massacre was part of a broader attack plot than initially inferred During a press conference investigators called the father-and-son gunmen ages and cowards who hunted Jewish Australians in broad daylight Fifteen people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in the shootings which police are now formally describing as an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack New South Wales Police authenticated the younger attacker s automobile contained IED s and two homemade ISIS flags evidence officials reported points directly to extremist inspiration and an apparent intent to carry out a larger coordinated assault Forensic teams are still conducting ballistic and chemical examinations of the items This was a barbaric attack against Jewish Australians Australia s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett mentioned They were hunted down in broad daylight JOHN FETTERMAN BREAKS WITH DEMOCRATS SLAMS PARTY S PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD STANCE AS ABSOLUTE BETRAYAL Bureaucrats explained they are still working to determine whether the devices were functional or intended for secondary targets Mal Lanyon the Police Commissioner for New South Wales state reported the subjects traveled to the Philippines last month Their reasons for the trip and where in the Philippines they went would be probed by investigators Lanyon stated The region has long been home to ISIS-linked networks Groups of Muslim separatist militants including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines once expressed assistance for ISIS and have hosted small numbers of foreign militant combatants from Asia the Middle East and Europe in the past SCHUMER DRAWS FIRE FOR CASUAL TONE AFTER SYDNEY TERROR ATTACK AS FETTERMAN CRUZ DEMAND TOUGHER STANCEDecades of military offensives however have considerably weakened Abu Sayyaf and other such armed groups and Philippine military and police officers say there has been no modern indication of any foreign militants in the country's south Representatives announced there is at the moment no evidence that additional attackers or facilitators were involved in Sunday s massacre but representatives cautioned that this assessment could change as investigators review digital devices journey records and thousands of seized documents Tuesday marked the first time that agents endorsed their beliefs about the suspects' ideologies DAVE PORTNOY SAYS AUSTRALIA TERROR ATTACK 'BORDERLINE INEVITABLE' AS HATRED TRENDS INTO 'MAINSTREAM' CULTUREThere are more than two dozen people ranging in ages from to still being treated in hospitals after Sunday's massacre Ten of them including three who are patients in a children s hospital are in critical condition Among the injured is Ahmed al Ahmed a -year-old Syrian-born fruit shop owner who was captured on video tackling and disarming one assailant before pointing the man's weapon at him and then setting it on the ground He had surgery scheduled on Wednesday for shotgun wounds to his left shoulder and upper body Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who met earlier with Ahmed hailed him as a true Australian hero GAL GADOT ASHTON KUTCHER CONDEMN ANTISEMITIC TERROR ATTACK AT BONDI BEACH HANUKKAH EVENT We are a brave country Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country We will not allow this country to be divided That is what the terrorists seek We will unite We will embrace each other and we'll get through this Albanese added The older gunman was shot dead while his son was also being treated at a hospital on Tuesday Albanese and the leaders of various of Australia's states have pledged to tighten the country's already strict gun already strict gun laws in what would be the the majority sweeping reforms since a shooter killed people in Port Arthur Tasmania in Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare Representatives divulged more information as population questions and anger grew on the third day following the attack about how the persons of interest were able to plan and enact it and whether Australian Jews had been sufficiently protected from rising antisemitism Albanese declared plans to further restrict access to guns in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed his cache of six weapons legally The suspected murderers callous in how they allegedly coordinated their attack appeared to have no regard for the age or ableness of their casualties Barrett disclosed It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally