Kiwis pay tribute to victims of massacre

Christchurch, New Zealand: New Zealanders flocked to pay tribute on Sunday to the 50 worshippers slain in two mosque attacks, as families clamoured for the return of their dead.

Coroners said they hoped to let grieving relatives fulfil Islamic burial customs soon, but insisted they had to move carefully through their investigation into the horrific multiple murder. As New Zealand grappled to come to terms with the slaughter -- the worst attack on Muslims in a Western country -- tales of heroism, suffering and incredible grace began to emerge.

Farid Ahmed, whose 44-year-old wife Husna was killed as she rushed back into a mosque to rescue him, refused to harbour hatred toward the alleged gunman, Australian-born, self-avowed white nationalist, Brenton Tarrant.

"I would say to him ´I love him as a person´," Ahmed, who uses a wheelchair, told AFP. Asked if he forgave the 28-year-old suspect, he said: "Of course. The best thing is forgiveness, generosity, loving and caring, positivity."

Husna Ahmed was among four women believed to have been killed by Tarrant, who documented his radicalisation and two years of preparations in a lengthy, meandering and conspiracy-filled far-right "manifesto".

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her office and some 30 other officials had received the document by email about nine minutes before the attack. "It did not include a location, it did not include specific details," she said, adding that it was sent to security services within two minutes of receipt.

Earlier on Sunday the prime minister, wearing a black headscarf, appeared visibly moved as she greeted and hugged members of the Muslim community in Wellington, and laid a floral tribute to the victims of Friday´s atrocity.

Around Christchurch, New Zealand and the world there have been vigils, prayers, memorials and messages of solidarity. "We stand together with our Muslim brothers & sisters" were the words on a large red banner, above a sea of flowers at one of the sites in what one resident dubbed the "city of sorrow". An emotion-filled haka -- the Maori war dance -- was performed by a New Zealand biker gang to honour the Christchurch dead.

The country remained on high alert Sunday, with police closing an airport in the southern city of Dunedin -- where Tarrant had lived -- after an unidentified package was spotted on the airfield. The dead from Friday´s attack span generations, aged between three and 77, according to a sombre list circulated among relatives. Some victims came from the neighbourhood, others from as far afield as Egypt or Fiji. At least two of the dead came from the same family -- a father and son.