Parents hail 'hero of Australia' after beach terrorist tackled

THE parents of a fruit shop owner who tackled one of the Bondi Beach terrorists have described him as a “hero of Australia”.

- JOSH PAYNE

Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, is seen fighting a gunman in a video shared widely on social media shortly after the attack during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sunday.

Australian police said a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son, named in local media as Sajid and Naveed Akram, were behind the shooting on Sunday, in which 15 people were killed, including a 10-year-old girl and a British-born rabbi.

Sajid Akram was shot by police and died at the scene but Naveed Akram, who was wounded, is expected to survive his injuries and face criminal charges.

As of late Monday afternoon local time, 27 people were receiving care in hospitals across Sydney, NSW Health said. Six people are in a critical condition, the others are in serious and stable conditions. Police believe the ages of the dead range from 10 to 87.

Two police officers who were injured in the attack are in serious but stable conditions.

Mr Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed, told ABC Australia his son has an “impulse to protect people’, having previously served with the police.

Speaking through a translator, he told the broadcaster: “His friend told him, ‘Let's go have coffee at Bondi’.