ISLAMABAD:
Death toll of Pakistani nationals assassinated in Friday’s terrorist attack in two Mosques in Christchurch city of New Zealand has reached nine.
‘’Three more persons, Zeeshan Raza, his father Ghulam Hussain and mother Karam Bibi have been confirmed to have embraced shahadat in the terrorist attack’’ Foreign office spokesman Dr. Faisal on Sunday said
Earlier, Pakistani foreign office had confirmed six deaths. These deceased Pakistani’s included Sohail Shahid, Syed Jahandad Ali, Syed Areeb Ahmed, Mahboob Haroon, Naeem Rashid and his son Talha Naeem. Other 3 missing were still being identified, who have been confirmed dead now.
On Friday at least 49 Muslim worshipers were murdered and another around 50 injured, some in critical condition, in terrorist attacks on two Mosques during Friday prayers in Christchurch.
A man identifying himself as Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old born in Australia, broadcast livestream footage on Facebook showing himself driving to a mosque, entering and shooting randomly and killing people inside.
He has been charged with murder in the court.
The world condemned the incident calling it terrorism. New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, called it a terrorist attack and ‘’one of New Zealand’s darkest days’’.
New Zealand’s entire police arsenal and personnel were deployed throughout the country and en masse in Christchurch, the South Island’s largest city, which is known to have an active white-supremacist subculture.
A “manifesto” was posted online before the attacks, in which the suspected gunman espoused far-right and anti-immigrant ideology.
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, called the massacre a “right-wing extremist attack” and said one suspect was Australian-born, without giving further details. Ardern condemned the ideology of the people behind the shootings, saying: “You may have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you,’’ he added.
