Christchurch: The Indian High Commissioner has confirmed the death of five Indians in the New Zealand massacre in which a lone gunman targeted Muslims gathered at two mosques in Christchurch.
The deceased were identified as Maheboob Khokhar, Ramiz Vora, Asif Vora, Ansi Alibava, and Ozair Kadir.
In a tweet, the High Commission said, “With a very heavy heart we share the news of loss of precious lives of our 5 nationals in ghastly terror attack in #Christchurch.”
50 persons were killed when Australian born Brenton Tarrant opened fire at the worshippers in the worst attack on Muslims in the country.
On Friday, Brenton Tarrant, a white supremacist, opened fire at worshippers who had gathered for the Friday prayers. He was armed with assault rifles and mounted a camera on his head to live stream the gruesome attack on Facebook.
Reports say that just minutes before the attack, Tarrant sent a ‘manifesto’ to Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, the opposition leader, Speaker, and to 70 media outlets condemning immigrants as “invaders”.
Tarrant, a white extremist, was against immigrants and saw them as a threat to the future of his “people”. He was appalled by the IS inspired attack in many European countries.
The suspect was apprehended by the police after the attack and was produced in court yesterday.
After the attack, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to change the existing gun laws to curb such ghastly acts of violence.
About 200,000 Indian and Indian-origin people live in New Zealand.
