OSLO - A gunman armed with multiple weapons opened fire in a mosque near Oslo on Saturday, injuring one person before being overpowered by an elderly worshipper and arrested, Norwegian police and witnesses said.
Hours after the attack, the body of a young woman related to the suspect was found in a home in the suburb of Baerum where the shooting took place earlier in the day, police said Saturday evening.
Investigators are treating her death as suspicious and have opened a murder probe.
The head of the mosque described the assailant as a young white man dressed in black and said he was wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest.
He said only three people had been inside the al-Noor Islamic center at the time of the attack.
Police were alerted to the shooting shortly after 4 pm (1400 GMT).
Officers first reported that a victim had been shot, but later clarified one person had sustained "minor injuries" and that it was unclear if they were gunshot wounds.
Police said the suspect appeared to have acted on his own.
"It is a Norwegian young man, with a Norwegian background. He lives in the vicinity," Oslo police spokesman Rune Skjold had told a press conference earlier Saturday.
Skjold added that the suspect had been known to police before the incident but could not be described as someone with a "criminal background".
Norway was the scene of one of the worst-ever attacks by a right-wing extremist in July 2011, when 77 people were killed by Anders Behring Breivik.
'Blood on the carpets'
"One of our members has been shot by a white man with a helmet and uniform," Irfan Mushtaq, head of the mosque, told local media.
Mushtaq said that the man had carried multiple weapons, but that he had been subdued by a member of the mosque.
Mushtaq himself had arrived at the scene shortly after being alerted about the gunman, and had gone to the back of the building while waiting for police to arrive.
"Then I see that there are cartridges scattered and blood on the carpets, and I see one of our members is sitting on the perpetrator, covered in blood," Mushtaq told Norwegian newspaper VG.
He said the man who apparently overpowered the shooter was 75 years old and had been reading the Koran after a prayer session.
According to Mushtaq, the mosque had not received any threats ahead of the shooting.
The attack took place on the eve of the Muslim celebration of Eid Al-Adha, marking the end of the Muslim pilgrimage Hajj.
Police said Saturday they would be sending out more officers so that those celebrating would "be as safe as possible".
New Zealand connection?
There has been a recent spate of white nationalist attacks in the West, including in the United States and in New Zealand where 51 Muslim worshippers were killed in March in shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.
The al-Noor Islamic center in Norway shares its name with the worst affected mosque in the New Zealand attacks.
Local Norwegian paper Budstikka said it had contacted the mosque in March after the Christchurch massacre and that officials there had said security would be tightened.
The suspect in the Christchurch killings wrote a hate-filled manifesto in which he said he was influenced by far-right ideologues including the Norwegian mass murderer Breivik.
Breivik detonated a massive bomb in Oslo that killed eight people and then opened fire on a gathering of the Labour Party's youth wing on the island of Utoya, killing another 69 people, most of them teenagers.
Norwegian police said they were aware that Saturday's suspect had been active online prior to the shooting.
Broadcaster TV2 reported they had learned the identity of the man and located a post to an online forum from someone using the same name, posted only hours before the attack.
The post seemingly praising the New Zealand attacker and ended with the words "Valhall awaits".
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WELLINGTON - New Zealand retailer Gun City, which sold weapons to the man accused of shootings at two Christchurch mosques that killed 51 people and injured dozens, has aroused concern with plans for a mega store in the South Island city, media said on Wednesday.
Radio New Zealand said some of those living near the proposed site were upset at the prospect of the store, sprawling over 300 sq m (3,229 sq ft), along with warehouse, office and carpark, set to open in August.
"I don't think many people will be very comfortable to have guns around their homes in a residential area," one of the residents, Harry Singh, told the broadcaster.
Gun City did not immediately reply to Reuters' request for comment.
The location is just 1 km (0.62 miles) from the racetrack where New Zealand held its first firearms buyback on Saturday, four months after its worst peacetime mass shooting.
The accused gunman, Brenton Tarrant, bought four weapons and ammunition between December 2017 and March 2018, Gun City owner David Tipple said in March.
Tarrant, due to stand trial in May, has pleaded not guilty to 92 charges over the attacks, including New Zealand's first terrorism charge.
Tipple told Radio New Zealand he was sorry some people were concerned about the new store, but the chain was "willing and happy to introduce those persons to the positives of firearms".
A gun reform law passed in April bars the circulation and use of most semi-automatic firearms, parts to convert firearms into semi-automatics, magazines over a certain capacity and some shotguns.
The government has allotted NZ$208 million ($139 million) for buybacks nationwide to compensate gunowners who surrender banned weapons. Police took in 224 firearms on Saturday, with 22 similar events scheduled this week.
With a population of just under 5 million and an estimated 1.5 million firearms, New Zealand ranks 17th in the world in numbers of civilian firearms owners, the Small Arms Survey shows.
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A one-time gym trainer from rural Australia who became steeped in neo-fascist ideology during travels in Europe, Brenton Tarrant described himself as an "ordinary white man" -- until he became anything but ordinary.
The gunman behind the massacre of 49 people in two New Zealand mosques flashed a white power sign during a brief court appearance Saturday, but he was not on any terrorist watch-list and appeared to have no criminal history.
Tarrant, 28, grew up in the small town of Grafton in northern New South Wales, where he graduated high school before earning some fitness qualifications and going on to find work at a local gym in 2009.
The gym's owner, Tracey Gray, described him as a hard-working trainer but said he appeared to have been changed by his travels in Europe and Asia -- which social media posts suggested included trips as far afield as Pakistan and North Korea.
"I think something must have changed in him during the years he spent travelling overseas," Gray told national broadcaster ABC.
"Somewhere along the lines, experiences or a group have got a hold of him," she said.
Gray's speculation was backed up by a rambling, hate-filled, manifesto Tarrant posted to social media ahead of the Christchurch killings.
In the 74-page screed, he says he first began considering an attack in April and May of 2017 while travelling in France and elsewhere in Western Europe.
He mentions being shocked at the "invasion" of French cities by immigrants and his "despair" at the French presidential vote that year which saw pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron defeat his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen.
In a brief biographical sketch included in his manifesto, Tarrant describes himself as "just a ordinary white man... born in Australia to a working class, low income family".
His childhood was "regular" and, he insisted, issue-free. He "barely" achieved a passing grade in school and had no interest in pursuing higher education.
According to media reports, his father died of cancer in 2010 and gym owner Gray said she believed he had a mother and sister still living in Grafton.
Tarrant left the gym in 2011 and his travels, he says, were funded by money he made investing in Bitconnect -- an open source cryptocurrency that collapsed in early 2018 amid charges it was a glorified Ponzi scheme.
Two modified semi-automatic weapons -- reportedly AR-15s -- two shotguns and a lever-action gun were used in Friday's deadly rampage, and photos of the weaponry with distinctive writing on them were posted on social media days before.
Scrawled in English and several Eastern European languages were the names of numerous historical military figures -- many of them Europeans involved in fighting the Ottoman forces in the 15th and 16th centuries. A few took part in the Crusades, centuries earlier.
Ankara on Friday said it was investigating Tarrant's multiple visits to Turkey, and who he might have met while he was there.
The Bulgarian government has also said it was looking into Tarrant, who apparently visited the country late last year, as well as having earlier travelled to other parts of the Balkans -- including Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Tarrant's manifesto said he took "inspiration" from other right-wing extremists including racist Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011 motivated by his hatred of multiculturalism.
Tarrant described Oswald Mosley, a notorious British fascist leader and anti-Semite from the 1930s, as "the person from history closest to my own beliefs".
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CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - A right-wing extremist who filmed himself rampaging through two mosques in the quiet New Zealand city of Christchurch killing 49 worshippers appeared in court on a murder charge Saturday.
Australian-born 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant appeared in the dock wearing handcuffs and a white prison shirt, sitting impassively as the judge read a single murder charge against him. A raft of further charges are expected.
The former fitness instructor and self-professed fascist occasionally turned to look at media present in court during the brief hearing that was held behind closed doors for security reasons.
He did not request bail and was taken into custody until his next court appearance scheduled for April 5.
Forty-two people are still being treated in hospital for injuries, including a four year old child, after an attack thought to be the deadliest directed against Muslims in the West in modern times.
Outside the court, guarded by heavily armed police in body armor, the sons of 71-year-old Afghan man Daoud Nabi demanded justice.
"It's outrageous, the feeling is outrageous," he said. "It's beyond imagination."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Saturday the victims were from across the Muslim world, with Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia among the countries rendering consular assistance.
One Saudi citizen was killed and another wounded, according to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television news channel.
At least two Jordanians were among the dead, according to that country's foreign minister, while Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Faisal said five citizens of his country were missing.
Ardern described the spree killing as a terrorist attack and said the shooter -- who was not on any watchlist and did not have a criminal record -- had legally purchased the two semi-automatic weapons, two shotguns and lever-action gun he used.
"The offender was in possession of a gun license" obtained in November 2017, and he started purchasing the weapons the following month, she said.
"While work is being done as to the chain of events that led to both the holding of this gun licence, and the possession of these weapons, I can tell you one thing right now -- our gun laws will change," she vowed.
The suspect documented his radicalization and two years of preparations in a lengthy, meandering and conspiracy filled far-right "manifesto".
He live-streamed footage of himself going room-to-room, victim to victim, shooting the wounded from close range as they struggled to crawl away in the main Christchurch mosque.
Two other people remain in custody, although their link to the attack is unknown. A third person who was earlier arrested was said to be a member of the public with a firearm who was trying to help.
Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were found in a car and neutralized by the military, while police raided a home in Dunedin, where Ardern said the suspect was based.
- 'HORRIBLE MASSACRE' –
Tributes to the victims poured in from around the world.
US President Donald Trump condemned the "horrible massacre" in which "innocent people have so senselessly died", but denied that the problem of right-wing extremism was widespread.
Speaking in Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the gunman as "an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist".
The shooter's two targets were the Masjid al Noor mosque, where 41 people were killed, and a second, smaller mosque in the suburb of Linwood, where seven more died. The remaining victim succumbed in hospital.
The dead were said to include women and children.
The survivors included 17 members of Bangladesh's cricket team, whose game against New Zealand on Saturday has been postponed, and a Palestinian man who fled for his life after seeing someone being shot in the head.
"I heard three quick shots, then after about 10 seconds it started again," said the man, who did not wish to be named.
"Then people started running out. Some were covered in blood," he told AFP.
New Zealand police described the footage shot by the gunman -- which AFP has verified, but is not distributing -- as "extremely distressing" and warned web users that they could be liable for up to 10 years in jail for sharing such "objectionable content".
The attack has shocked New Zealanders, who are used to seeing around 50 murders a year in the entire country of 4.8 million and pride themselves on living in a secure and welcoming place.
Police warned Muslims across the country not to visit mosques "anywhere in New Zealand" in the wake of the Christchurch attacks. Friday is Islam's holy day.
- 'BODIES ALL OVER' –
The attack shocked the local Muslim population, many of whom had come to New Zealand as refugees.
One witness told news website Stuff he was praying when he heard shooting -- and then saw his wife lying dead on the footpath outside when he fled.
Another man said he saw children being shot.
"There were bodies all over," he said.
Mass shootings are very rare in New Zealand, which tightened its gun laws to restrict access to semi-automatic rifles in 1992, two years after a mentally ill man shot dead 13 people in the South Island town of Aramoana.
However, anyone over 16 can apply for a standard firearms license after doing a safety course and police check.
Christchurch, a relatively small city on New Zealand's south island, hit global headlines in 2011 when it was struck by a deadly earthquake, killing more than 180 people.
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LONDON - Leaders and organizations around the world expressed disgust and sorrow at the killing of 49 people in shootings at 2 New Zealand mosques on Friday, attacks that many blamed on the demonization of Muslims by the West.
Western leaders from Donald Trump to Angela Merkel expressed solidarity with New Zealanders, deploring what the White House called a "vicious act of hate."
The response from some Muslim countries went further, blaming politicians and the media for stoking that hatred. The nationalities of the victims included Indian, Pakistani, Malaysian, Indonesian, Egyptian, Bangladeshi, Saudi, Somalian and Turkish, authorities said.
New Zealand police said 49 people were killed and 42 were being treated for wounds, including a 4-year-old child. Three people were in custody including one man who has been charged with murder, police said.
"I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia post-9/11 (where) 1.3 billion Muslims have collectively been blamed for any act of terror," Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote on social media.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the attack was a result of Muslims being demonized.
"Not only the perpetrators, but also politicians & media that fuel the already escalated Islamophobia and hate in the West are equally responsible for this heinous attack," he tweeted.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated "the urgency of working better together globally to counter Islamophobia and eliminate intolerance and violent extremism in all its forms," a spokesman said.
Hundreds of protesters in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, chanted "Allahu akbar!" (God is Greatest) after Friday prayers.
"We will not let the blood of Muslims go in vain," said one protester.
Members of the Bangladesh national cricket team, in Christchurch for a match against New Zealand, arrived for Friday prayers as the shooting started but were not hurt.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said some of the victims may have been new immigrants or refugees.
"They are us," she said. "The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not. They have no place in New Zealand."
Trump, following a phone call with Ardern, said on Twitter: "...I informed the Prime Minister... that we stand in solidarity with New Zealand - and that any assistance the U.S.A. can give, we stand by ready to help. We love you New Zealand!"
The accused gunman's manifesto posted online praised Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose."
Asked by a reporter if he thought white nationalism is a rising threat around the world, Trump said: "I don't really. I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. I guess if you look at what happened in New Zealand perhaps that's a case, I don't know enough about it yet."
Trump said he had not seen the gunman's manifesto.
'EXTREMIST'
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said an Australian national arrested after the attack was an "extremist, right-wing violent terrorist."
Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who is New Zealand's head of state, said she was "deeply saddened by the appalling events."
Pope Francis deplored the "senseless acts of violence."
In a message of condolence sent by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis "assures all New Zealanders, and in particular the Muslim community, of his heartfelt solidarity in the wake of these attacks".
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest Muslim body, to discuss this "horrible crime", Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.
"Western hypocrisy of defending demonisation of Muslims as 'freedom of expression' MUST end," Zarif said on Twitter. He posted a picture of US President Donald Trump saying "I think Islam hates us," during the 2016 US election campaign.
The Palestinian chief peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, called the attack a "consequence of racist ideologies that continue trying to promote religious wars".
He compared it to the shooting last October at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh that killed 11 people, deadly attacks on churches in Egypt by Islamic State and an attack by a far-right Israeli gunman on a West Bank mosque in 1994 that killed 29 people.
A statement by Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been accused by the United States of terrorism, said in part: "Hezbollah warns against the tendency of extremism against Muslims and foreigners and against the politics of hate that the United States nourishes in the world, rather than religious values that advocate tolerance, dialogue and acceptance of the other."
'FLAMES OF HATRED'
German Chancellor Merkel mourned "with the New Zealanders for their fellow citizens who were attacked and murdered out of racist hatred while peacefully praying in their mosques."
Her foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said: "When people are murdered solely because of their religion, this is an attack on us all."
Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of London, said Londoners stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Christchurch. He also pointed his finger at those who promote religious hatred.
"When the flames of hatred are fanned, when people are demonised because of their faith, when people's fears are played on rather than addressed, the consequences are deadly, as we have seen so sadly today," he said.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said the attack brought back memories of the 2011 attack by anti-Muslim extremist Anders Breivik that killed 77 people: "It shows that extremism is nurtured and that it lives in many places."
Al-Azhar University, Egypt's 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islamic learning, called the attack "a dangerous indicator of the dire consequences of escalating hate speech, xenophobia and the spread of Islamophobia."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - Attacks on two Christchurch mosques left at least 49 dead Friday, with one gunman -- identified as an Australian extremist -- apparently livestreaming the assault that triggered the lockdown of the New Zealand city.
In what appeared to be the worst attack against Muslims in a western country, witnesses spoke of victims being shot at close range, with women and children believed to be among those killed.
"It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack," said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, saying it marked "one of New Zealand's darkest days."
"From what we know, it does appear to have been well planned," she said, adding that in addition to the dead another 20 people were seriously injured.
The gunman at one mosque was an Australian-born citizen, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in Sydney, describing him as "an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist."
It was not immediately clear how many attackers were involved, but Ardern said three men had been taken into custody.
Two IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were also found and neutralized by the military, police said.
A Palestinian man who was in one of the mosques said he saw someone being shot in the head.
"I heard three quick shots, then after about 10 seconds it started again. It must have been an automatic -- no one could pull a trigger that quick," the man, who did not wish to be named, told AFP.
"Then people started running out. Some were covered in blood," he said, adding that he joined the fleeing crowd and managed to escape.
Local media reported at least nine people were dead.
Video and documents circulating online -- but not officially confirmed -- suggested the shooter had streamed his attack on Facebook Live.
AFP has examined the footage, which has subsequently been taken down. Journalists experienced in verification techniques said it appeared to be genuine.
New Zealand police described it as "extremely distressing" and urged web users not to share it.
A manifesto had also been posted online on accounts linked to the same Facebook page, suggesting the attack was racially motivated.
A number of pictures were posted to a social media account of a semi-automatic weapon covered in the names of historical figures, many of whom were involved in the killing of Muslims.
Police, who initially imposed a city-wide lockdown, sent armed officers to a number of scenes.
'Darkest day'
An ashen-faced Ardern told reporters the attacks had been "an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence."
"It is clear that this is one of New Zealand's darkest days," she said.
Forty-one of those slain were at the Masjid al Noor in central Christchurch, police said. Seven more were killed at the Linwood Ave mosque, three of them outside the building. It is unclear where the remaining victim died.
The two mosques are about five kilometers apart. It was not clear if the same gunman was involved at both sites.
One witness told stuff.co.nz he was praying when he heard shooting -- and then saw his wife lying dead on the footpath outside when he fled.
Another man said he saw children being shot.
"There were bodies all over," he said.
An eyewitness told Radio New Zealand that he heard shots fired and four people were lying on the ground, with "blood everywhere".
Police warned Muslims all over the country not to visit mosques "anywhere in New Zealand." Friday is Islam's holy day.
The Christchurch city council offered a helpline for parents looking for kids attending a mass climate change rally nearby.
The Bangladesh cricket team -- which had been in Christchurch for a test match against New Zealand that was later cancelled -- all escaped without injury.
A spokesperson said the attack happened as some of the players got off a team bus and were about to enter the mosque.
"They are safe. But they are mentally shocked. We have asked the team to stay confined in the hotel," he told AFP.
Mass shootings are rare in New Zealand, which tightened its gun laws to restrict access to semi-automatic rifles in 1992, two years after a mentally ill man shot dead 13 people in the South Island town of Aramoana.
However, anyone over 16 can apply for a standard firearms license after doing a safety course, which allows them to purchase and use a shotgun unsupervised.
Christchurch, a relatively small city in the south of New Zealand, hit global headlines in 2011 when it was struck by a deadly earthquake.
Dozens of people died and the city's historic cathedral was toppled in the disaster.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
