At least 10 people are confirmed dead, including one believed to be an attacker, following a mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, according to Australian police.
Eighteen people have been hospitalised and multiple people treated at the scene, according to New South Wales Ambulance Service.
New South Wales Police said a second gunman was “critically injured”, with two police officers among the other people injured.
Two people are in custody and a police investigation was ongoing, the force said. It urged people to avoid the area.
Police said that a number of “suspicious items” at the scene on Bondi Beach were being examined.
More than 40 ambulance resources were deployed, including helicopter and road crews, an ambulance spokeswoman added.
Police said there were no reports of any other incidents in Sydney connected to this incident.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese described the scene as shocking and distressing and said emergency responders were on the ground working to save lives.
“I saw at least 10 people on the ground and blood everywhere,” 30-year-old local Harry Wilson, who witnessed the shooting, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News in an interview that the shooting happened at an event at the beach celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which began at sundown.
“This is the Jewish community at its best coming together to mark a happy occasion. If we were targeted deliberately in this way, it’s something of a scale that none of us could have ever fathomed. It’s a horrific thing,” he said, adding his media adviser had been wounded in the attack.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog said: “Our hearts go out to them … we pray for the recovery of the wounded, we pray for them, and we pray for those who lost their lives."
Videos circulating on X appeared to show people on Bondi Beach scattering as multiple gunshots and police sirens could be heard. Another video showed two men pressed on to the ground by uniformed police on a small pedestrian bridge.
Officers could be seen trying to resuscitate one of the men.
“We are aware of an active security situation in Bondi. We urge people in the vicinity to follow information from NSW Police,” said a spokesperson for Mr Albanese. – Reuters, PA, Guardian
