Sydney, 17 December (H.S.): Three Indian international students number among the 40 wounded in Sunday's ferocious terrorist assault on Bondi Beach, where gunmen Naveed Akram, 24, and his father Sajid, 50, unleashed a barrage during the Hanukkah by the Sea gathering, slaying 15 souls including a 10-year-old girl and a British-born rabbi.

At least two of the students languish in hospital with gunshot wounds to thighs and legs, their identities shielded as authorities notify kin amid consular outreach, while five critically injured victims and two police officers in serious yet stable plight underscore the carnage's toll.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon disclosed the probe's breadth, encompassing the duo's Philippines jaunt, extremist artifacts like ISIS flags in their vehicle, and improvised explosives unearthed nearby, cementing the incident as an ideologically fueled atrocity.

ASIO's 2019 scrutiny of Naveed—tied to a Sydney ISIS cell—belies prior red flags, with Sajid's six licensed firearms fueling the fusillade near Campbell Parade; the elder fell to police bullets, his son clings critically under guard.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese decried the antisemitic outrage as Australia's gravest mass shooting in decades, as funerals commence—including Rabbi Eli Schlanger's—and crowds mourn amid vows to thwart radicalization.

Indian police revealed the Akram family's scant Hyderabad ties, severed 27 years past, disavowing knowledge of radical drift, while global vigils and victim identifications proceed under tightened security.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar