Six Stabbed in New Zealand Islamist Extremist Attack

An attacker reportedly inspired by the Islamic State has been shot dead after stabbing and wounding six people in a supermarket attack.

The man, yet unnamed, is understood to be a Sri Lankan national who had lived in New Zealand for approximately 10 years and had been regarded as a “person of interest'' by the authorities for around 5 years. He had been under round the clock police surveillance for his affiliation with extremist Islamist ideology, had been known to multiple agencies, and was also on the terror watch list.

The attack itself took place in the Countdown supermarket at LynnMall in the district of New Lynn (a suburb of Auckland) Friday afternoon. The attacker allegedly took a large knife from a display in the supermarket, shouted "Allahu akbar", and then proceeded with his stabbing spree. 

One witness told the BBC that people were “running out, hysterically, just screaming, yelling, scared," and added that he saw an elderly man lying on the ground with a stab wound.

Another Witness told the New Zealand Herald that:

"He had a knife, a pretty big knife - like I would say the size of his arm. It was very scary ... It was four or five steps away from me, and I had a clear path to run so I ran."

"While people were coming out I could see one lady wearing a white T-shirt completely bleeding and really panicking. People were trying to help her... I saw another person bleeding from the shoulder really bad."

Out of the six wounded by the stabbing, three are currently in a critical condition, the St John Ambulance service said in a statement.

Questions have been raised as to why someone under such heavy surveillance was able to carry out such an attack, to which Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has responded:

"The reality is, that when you are surveilling someone on a 24/7 basis, it is not possible to be immediately next to them at all times. The staff intervened as quickly as they could and they prevented further injury in what was a terrifying situation,"

Coster added that the attacker was very surveillance-conscious and the police needed to keep their distance to be able to effectively surveil him at all. It has been reported that the terrorist was shot dead within 60 seconds of the attack beginning. 

New Zealand’ Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, released a statement on the attack:

“What happened today was despicable. It was hateful. It was wrong. It was carried out by an individual; not a faith; not a Culture; not an ethnicity, but an individual person gripped by ideology that is not supported here by anyone or any community. He alone carries the responsibility for these acts, let that be where the judgement falls.”