The attack was Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.

As Australian authorities try to retrace the steps and understand the motivations of the Bondi Beach gunmen who killed 15 people on Sunday, one key focus has emerged: their travel to the Philippines last month,

Preliminary evidence indicates Naveed Akram, 24, staged a “terrorist attack inspired by ISIS," police said Wednesday. The first funerals for victims were held under tight security.

[Islamabad] Pakistan has condemned what it called an organized and malicious campaign to accuse the country, without evidence, of complicity following the attack in Sydney’s Bondi Beach area, questioning whether those responsible would issue an apology for spreading false claims.

Alleged terrorists Naveed and Sajid Akram spent almost a month holed up in a small hotel room in a city in the southern Philippines in the lead-up to the attack, local staff have said.

Investigators are probing a trip the father and son alleged to have carried out the attack took to the Philippines. The Sydney Opera House was lit up with a menorah overnight in a message of support and solidarity to the Australian Jewish community.

The death toll of the horrific Bondi terror attack has risen to at least 16 people, including a 10-year-old schoolgirl, with fears the number of victims will continue to grow. Sky News Australia has rolling coverage of the tragedy.

Intelligence agencies revealed that one of the shooters in the Bondi Beach terror attack, Naveed Akram, came under police radar six years back in connection with a Sydney-based Islamic State cell.