Sixteen persons, including one of the two suspected gunmen, were killed in a mass shooting at the Bondi beach in Sydney, Australia on Sunday. The mass shooting happened during an event related to the Jewish festival Hanukkah.

Forty-two persons were hospitalised, including five in a critical condition. This included two police officers who were wounded in a shootout with the gunmen.

One of the assailants was a 50-year-old father who was shot and killed in the shootout, AFP quoted the police as saying. The other was his 24-year-old son, who is in a critical condition in hospital.

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The police identified the two gunmen as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The gunmen had used “long arms to fire into crowds of people”, the police said in a statement.

The father was licensed to hold six guns, all of which were used in the shooting, the police believe, AFP reported.

The police have designated the incident as a terrorist attack.

This was the deadliest shooting in Australia since the 1996 Port Arthur attack, when a lone gunman opened fire at a historic site in Tasmania, killing 35 persons.

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The first day of Hanukkah was being marked at the time of the shooting at about 6.47 pm local time, with more than 1,000 persons gathered near the children’s playground, The Guardian reported.

Bondi is one of the most famous beaches in the world and a major tourist destination in Australia, especially during the summer in the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attack was “shocking and distressing” and confirmed that he had spoken with the Australian federal police commissioner and the New South Wales Premier Chris Minns.

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Minns said a “night of peace and joy” was “shattered” by a “horrifying, evil attack”, BBC reported.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Jewish people attending the Hanukkah celebration had been attacked by “vile terrorists” in a targeted attack, Al Jazeera reported.