4 September 2021 12:00 am Views - 742
New Zealand police on Friday shot and killed a “violent extremist” who was known to authorities, after he stabbed and wounded at least six people at a West Auckland supermarket.
Issuing a statement, the high commission also stated;
“The New Zealand High Commission in Colombo acknowledges, with sadness, the terrorist attack carried out in Auckland today. Our thoughts are with those injured in, or otherwise affected by, the attacks at this very difficult time.
As Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stated, the perpetrator alone bears responsibility for these acts. The attack was carried out by an individual, not a faith, ethnicity or culture.”
New Zealand mall attacker was a Sri Lanka national with ISIS
ideology
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said an ‘Isis-inspired lone wolf’ who had caused the supermarket terror attack in Auckland was a Sri Lankan national who had arrived in New Zealand in 2011.
Addressing the media over the brutal terrorist attack, Arden said the terrorist was dead following the terror attack which left six people in hospital.
“This was a violent attack, it was senseless on innocent New Zealanders,” Jacinda Ardern said.
Ardern said the attack was undertaken by an individual who was a known threat.
The man was under constant monitoring. He was shot and killed within 60 seconds.
“I want to acknowledge the six New Zealanders injured.” Three were serious, Ardern said.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the man was “closely watched by surveillance teams and a tactical team” as he travelled from his home in Glen Eden to Countdown in New Lynn, the New Zealand Herald reported.
He obtained a knife from within the store. Coster said the man was under surveillance because of his extremist beliefs.
“I know this situation raises questions about whether the Police could have done more,” Coster said.
“The reality is when you are surveilling someone on a 24-hour basis, it is not possible to be immediately next to them,” Coster said. “The Terrorist is a Sri Lankan national who arrived in 2011,” said Ardern Much information about him is covered by court suppression orders, she said.
The terrorist became a person of interest in 2016. “We have utilised every legal and surveillance power available to us to keep people safe from this individual,” Ardern said.
There will be multiple inquiries, Ardern said including from the IPCA and the coroner.
“What happened today was despicable, it was hateful it was wrong”.
“It was carried out by an individual, not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity, but an individual person who is gripped by an ideology that is not supported here by anyone.”
Ardern said she intended to wait for the reports to release any information she could.
“He alone carries the responsibility for these acts. Let that be where the judgement falls,” Ardern said. The man was fatally shot by police officers and several shoppers are understood to have suffered life-threatening injuries in horrific scenes at a West Auckland supermarket this afternoon.
Four people have been injured - three critically. They include people believed to have been attacked in the New Lynn mall Countdown. Their assailant was then fatally gunned down by police.