DEATH TOLL RISES TO 16 IN SYDNEY'S BONDI BEACH SHOOTING

SYDNEY, Dec 15 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- The death toll from a shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday has risen to 16, with a father and son identified as the attackers, police said Monday, reported Xinhua.

Police in the state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Monday morning that 16 people have been confirmed dead after the shooting. 

A police statement said that 14 people died at the scene and two others died in hospital. The deceased range in age from 10 to 87 years old and includes one of the attackers.

Another 40 people were being treated in hospital for their injuries as of Monday morning, five of whom were in critical condition.

NSW Police Force Commissioner Mal Lanyon told a press conference on Monday morning that the two alleged shooters were a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son.

The 50-year-old, who was killed at the scene, was a licensed firearm holder with six guns legally in his possession, Lanyon said.

The shooting occurred at around 6.47 pm local time on Sunday when the two men opened fire on a crowd of at least 1,000 people who gathered at the beach for an event celebrating the first day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

Lanyon, who on Sunday night officially declared the shooting as a terrorist attack, said Monday that investigations into motives behind the attack are ongoing.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the attack was an act of "pure evil" and that Australia would do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism.

"It is a scourge and we'll eradicate it together," he said.

It marks Australia's most deadly mass shooting since 35 people were killed at Port Arthur in the island state of Tasmania in 1996, which prompted fundamental changes to Australia's gun ownership laws. 

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA