Pictures of some of those who died and others fighting to survive the News Zealand mosques massacre
Fifteen of the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques massacre victims are pictured here in this montage, as some of those who died and some who miraculously survived the slaughter carried out by white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, are identified by loved ones and the authorities in the aftermath of yesterday’s atrocity.
Pictured (top left to right) are: Amjad Hamid, 57, a hospital doctor, who is missing feared dead, Ashraf Ali, an imam from Fiji, who has been identified as one of dead, Osama Adnan, 37, an Egyptian, who has been identified as one of the victims killed, Haji Daoud Nabi, 71, who has been identified as one of the victims killed, and Waseem Daraghmeh, 36, a muslim barber, who was badly injured, along with his five-year-old daughter, who was critically injured.
Middle row (left to right) are : Naeem Rashid, who has been identified as one of the victims killed, Sayyad Milne, 14, who has been identified as one of the victims killed, Haroon Mahmood, 41, a Pakistani national, who has been identified as one of the victims killed, Syed Janandad Ali, 34, a Pakistani citizen, who is missing and feared dead and paralysed husband Farid Uddin, who survived after his wife Husne Ara Parvin died trying to save him.
Bottom row (left to right): Farid’s brave wife, Husne Ara Parvin, 42, who has been identified as one of the victims killed, Lilik Abdul Hamid, who is missing and feared dead, Mucad Ibrahim, aged three, who has been identified as one of the victims killed, Farhaj Ahsan, 31, an engineer from Christchurch, New Zealand, who is missing feared dead, and Atta Elayyan, 33, who is reportedly injured following the deadly attack yesterday by white supremacist Australian killer Brenton Tarrant.
Tarrant, 28, is suspected of gunning down people inside two mosques in New Zealand. Tarrant, who has been described as an Australian Brit, opened fire on muslim worshippers with 49 people reported killed and 48 wounded in shootings at two mosque locations in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Tarrant has appeared in court accused of murder and was remanded in custody to appear again on April 5.
Brenton Tarrant live-streamed his rampage to Facebook from a head-mounted camera. Footage showed him firing indiscriminately at men, women and children from close range inside the Al-Noor mosque.
Two other men and one woman were detained nearby and firearms and explosive devices recovered, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said. He said one of those detained was later released, while officers were working to determine if the other two were involved.
The attack, which came around the time people were attending the mosques for Friday prayers, was the deadliest in the nation’s history.
Brenton Tarrant appeared to have published a document before the attack outlining his intentions and in which he espoused far right and anti-immigrant ideology.
Australian killer Brenton Tarrant live-streaming the murders
The first report of an attack came from the Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch. Witnesses told local media they ran for their lives, and saw people bleeding on the ground outside the building. A second mosque in the suburb of Linwood was evacuated, but there were fewer details from that site. Police also defused “a number of IEDs [explosive devices] attached to vehicles”, Mr Bush said.
In footage filmed by the gunman driving towards the Al Noor mosque, it shows him driving around the corner from the entrance to the mosque, before taking weapons from his car, entering the mosque and firing at those inside.
One unnamed survivor told TV New Zealand he saw the gunman shoot a man directly in the chest. The attacker reportedly targeted the men’s prayer room in the mosque, then moved to the women’s room.
“What I did was basically just waiting and praying, God please, let this guy run out of bullets,” the witness said. “He came to this side, he shot this side, he went to another room and went to the ladies’ section and shot them. I just heard one of the ladies has died.”
A Palestinian man who asked not to be named told the AFP news agency he heard rapid gunfire and saw a man shot in the head.”I heard three quick shots, then after about 10 seconds it started again – it must have been an automatic, no one could pull a trigger that quick,” he said.
“Then people started running out. Some were covered in blood.” A second mosque in the suburb of Linwood was also evacuated. The police commissioner said “multiple fatalities” were recorded at two locations.
The Bangladesh national cricket team appeared to have narrowly escaped the shooting. A reporter following the team, which was due to play New Zealand in a now-cancelled test match on Saturday, tweeted that the team had “escaped from a mosque near Hagley Park where there were active shooters”.Player Tamim Iqbal tweeted that the “entire team got saved from active shooters”.Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Jalal Yunus said most of the team had gone to mosque by bus and were about to go inside when the incident took place.”They are safe. But they are mentally shocked. We have asked the team to stay confined in the hotel,” he told the AFP news agency.
