By Dominic Giannini in Canberra

The father and son who carried out an anti-Semitic massacre have been linked to Islamic State as investigations continue into Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades.

Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, fired at a Jewish gathering at Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens more.

“Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

There was no evidence suggesting others were involved in the attack but it remained early in the piece, she added.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier said the duo were influenced by an “extreme perversion of Islam”, but there was no evidence they were part of a larger cell.

Naveed came to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency ASIO in 2019, when he was interviewed during a six-month investigation due to his association with two people, who were subsequently imprisoned.

“They determined that there was no evidence of this person planning or considering or indeed promoting any act of violence, or any act which could be deemed to be anti-Semitic, targeting the Jewish community, which is what occurred,” Mr Albanese said.

When and how he was radicalised after that is under investigation, the prime minister said.

The two men travelling to the Philippines in the weeks preceding the attack isn’t believed to have triggered any alerts to authorities, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said.

The southeast Asian nation is a known hotspot for the Islamic State of East Asia, which is a designated terrorist organisation in Australia.

“Where they went is unknown at this stage and subject to the investigation,” he told reporters.

Improvised explosive devices and two homemade IS flags were found in a car registered to Naveed, Mr Lanyon added.

Naveed is an Australian-born citizen while Sajid arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa before transferring to a partner visa in 2001.

Sajid travelled out of Australia three times and returned on resident visas, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.

The father owned six firearms legally, four of which were found at the scene and two were recovered from a house in Campsie, in Sydney’s southwest, which the pair used as a short-term rental ahead of the attack.

Police have raided the Campsie rental and their home in Bonnyrigg.

Sajid initially applied for a gun licence in 2015 but didn’t get a required photo taken and the application lapsed in 2016, Mr Lanyon said.

He then applied a second time in 2020 and a licence was issued in 2023.

Sajid was fatally shot during the massacre at Bondi, while Naveed remains in a coma in hospital.

The 24-year-old underwent an operation on Monday and is under close police guard.

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