The largely peaceful country of New Zealand has experienced an Islamic State-inspired attack which has resulted in six people getting injured out of which three are in critical condition in an Auckland supermarket knife rampage on Friday (September 3).
The Islamic terrorist who carried out this attack was shot dead by undercover police officers who had him under round-the-clock surveillance.
The attack was carried out by a Sri Lankan national and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was “gutted” the man, a Sri Lankan national, had managed to carry out his “hateful” assault even though he was on a terror watchlist. Asked about the man’s motivations, she said: “it was a violent ideology and ISIS-inspired”, using another name for the Islamic State group.
There are unverified reports that the jihadi was in Pakistan for five years.
“It was carried out by an individual, not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity. He alone carries the responsibility for these acts.”
The jihadists had come to New Zealand in 2011, entered a shopping mall in suburban Auckland, and seized a knife from a display before going on a stabbing spree.
However, PM Ardern said that she was limited in what she could be publicly revealed about the attacker because the subject of court suppression orders, but media has reported that the 32-year-old who carried out the attack told the prosecutors last year of plotting a “lone wolf” terror attack using knives.
But the irony is that a judge ruled that planning a terror attack was not in itself an offence under existing laws and was under 12-month supervision after being found guilty on lesser charges of possessing propaganda supporting Islamic State.
Ardern said authorities had to release the man and the new terror laws had been drafted to close the loophole. Arden admitted,
“The fact that he was in the community will be an illustration that we haven’t succeeded in using the law to the extent we would have liked,”.
“I know that we’ve been doing everything that we could, so I was absolutely gutted,” she said, describing her feelings upon learning about the stabbings.
When asked how many more people are under surveillance, Ardern would not disclose saying only “there are very few people who fall into this category”.
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand called the attack an act of hate. “Terrorists who do such inhumane and vile acts do not belong to any religion,” said the group’s president Ibrar Sheikh.
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