4 Egyptians killed in NZ mosque shootings; Arab victims rise to 11
Egypt announced four nationals are among the victims
of the deadly mass shootings at two mosques in that claimed lives of 49 people
and injured 20 others in New Zealand, raising the number of Arab victims to 11
people.
New Zealand’s authorities notified the Egyptian
embassy that four Egyptian expatriates were killed in the shootings, Egyptian
ambassador Tareq al-Wiseimy told the Egyptian Ministry of Migration on
Saturday.
The dead bodies of the Egyptian nationals will be
sent back home on Tuesday, he added, noting that embassy had contacted the
victims’ relatives.
The Egyptian victims include Munir Suleiman (68
years), Ahmed Hamal al-Din Abdul Ghani (68 years), Ashraf Morsi, and Ashraf
Al-Masri, according to a statement from the Ministry of Migration on Saturday.
“Nationalities of some injured people have not
identified yet as the New Zealand authorities cares firstly about their
health,” the ambassador was quoted as saying by the statement.
During Friday prayer, a video broadcast of the
shooting went viral on social media platforms, showing a gunman, who was later
identified as Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant (28), opening fire randomly at
worshippers inside Al Noor Mosque in the city of Christchurch, killing dozens;
and then he went to another mosque to kill more Muslim worshippers. The shooter
strapped a GoPro camera to his head and broadcast his massacre live on his
twitter account, which is now suspended.
Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced that death toll
of the Jordanian people killed in attack rose to four nationals, while Saudi
Arabia announced that British-Saudi citizen was killed by the shooter.
Palestinian ambassador to New Zealand Ezzat
Abdel-Hadi announced the killing of a Palestinian citizen and the injury of
others. A Syrian refugee, called Kahled al-Hag Mustafa, was killed inside the
mosque while his two children were injured.
Earlier, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi strongly
condemned the attack, saying that this ‘brutal attack which targeted
worshipers’, puts responsibility on all international community to counter
terrorism and exert more efforts to confront terrorism and violence decisively.
Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed
its sincere condolences to the families of the victims, affirming that this
terrorist attack extremely against all of the humanity principles.
Egypt’s religious institutions - Al Azhar and the
Coptic Church in New Zealand - condemned the deadly attack.
“The attack is a dangerous indication to the serious
repercussions of escalating hared speech and xenophobia and the increasing
Islamo-phobia in several countries,” Al Azahr said in a statement on Friday.
Egypt's Council of Church also extended condolences
for the loss of the victims, saying such act does not relate to any religion.
