NZ PM Jacinda Ardern says the man, a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011 and was on a terror watchlist
WELLINGTON: An attacker inspired by Daesh stabbed six people at a New Zealand supermarket on Friday before police who had the man under surveillance shot him dead, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Ardern said the man, a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011 and was on a terror watchlist, entered a shopping mall in suburban Auckland, seized a knife from a display and went on a stabbing spree.
She said six people were wounded, three critically, before police who were monitoring him opened fire within 60 seconds of the attack starting.
"What happened today was despicable, it was hateful, it was wrong," she said, adding it was not representative of any faith or community.
Asked about the man’s motivations, she said: "it was a violent ideology and Daesh-inspired".
Ardern said she was limited in what she could say publicly about the man, who had been under surveillance since 2016, because he was the subject of court suppression orders.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said authorities were confident the man was acting alone and there was no further danger to the community.
New Zealand’s worst terror attack was the Christchurch mosques shootings in March 2019, when a white supremacist gunman murdered 51 Muslim worshippers and severely wounded another 40.
There were "reasonable grounds" to "crime against humanity of persecution" being committed on gender grounds
Wall of water sweeps away one of main bridges linking Nepal and China over the Bhotekoshi river
Unlike previous third parties, America Party would have almost limitless resources
Announcement comes after Washington stated last week that it was pausing certain arms deliveries to Kyiv
Climate experts attribute the increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves to global warming
President Trump disputes notion that job cuts contributed to disaster as more bodies recovered