Canberra, Dec. 17 -- Days after a mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach left 15 people dead, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attack appeared to have been motivated by Islamic State ideology.

"It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology," Albanese said during an interview with ABC. He described the attack as "meticulous, calculated, cold-blooded" and said investigators believed the two attackers had acted alone.

Australia's federal police commissioner, Krissy Barrett, also described the Bondi Beach shooting as "a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State". She said evidence gathered so far pointed to extremist ideology as the driving force behind the violence.

The attackers were identified as a...