The terrorist who killed 50 people in two mosques in New Zealand travelled to Britain where he was radicalised, the Telegraph has revealed.
Brenton Tarrant, a white supremacist obsessed with the Crusades, came to Britain to stay for up to a fortnight in 2017.
Tarrant, was not on a ‘watch list’, “transited” through the UK and stayed “for a few weeks”.
The revelation comes as Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, said she received the gunman’s “manifesto” nine minutes before attack.
Meanwhile,Turkish president Erdogan said the terrorist had also visited Turkey and warned Turks have no place in Europe. He said on Saturday that Turkish authorities were investigating his visits and his contacts.
“We do not want to see a cross and crescent conflict again,” Erdogan told the rally, referring to conflict between Christians and Muslims. He said the suspected gunman had said he wanted Turkish Muslims removed from Turkey’s European territory.
“The wicked person who martyred 49 brothers and sisters is saying that we can stay on the Anatolian side, we cannot pass to the European side. Who do you think you are?” Erdogan said.
Death toll from the terrorist attack at two Christchurch mosques has risen to 50, New Zealand police confirmed on Sunday, as the country is going through shock after the incident.
The terrorist — identified as an Australian white nationalist — livestreamed the assault on social media and published a manifesto filled with racist conspiracy theories.
He also referred to Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.”
The body of the 50th victim was discovered at the Al Noor mosque, where most victims were killed, when officials were removing the victims’ bodies on Saturday, New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush, told reporters on Sunday.
While the number of wounded increased, 34 of them remain hospitalized and 12 are in critical condition.
Meanwhile, The UN Human Rights Council chief Michelle Bachelet has called the terror attacks on two mosques in New Zealand as “racist, Islamophobic, and terrorist”.
However, an Australian senator Fraser Anning from Queensland, has said that the massacre happened because of ‘increasing Muslim presence in both Australia and New Zealand’.
I am utterly opposed to any form of violence within our community, and I totally condemn the actions of the gunman,” Anning said. “However, whilst this kind of violent vigilantism can never be justified, what it highlights is the growing fear within our community, both in Australia and New Zealand of the increasing Muslim presence.”
The senator claimed “left-wing politicians and media” would blame gun laws and nationalist views, but “the real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.”
Earlier US President Trump also dismissed concerns that the massacre by a white supremacist terrorist in New Zealand indicates a dangerous trend.
Trump was asked if the killing in two mosques in Christchurch by a man claiming that white people are being overwhelmed in their historic homelands demonstrates a rising problem around the world.
“I don’t really. I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
One of the terrorists, an Australian, livestreamed the shooting at Al Noor Mosque in chilling 17-min video. In the video, he can be seen shooting indiscriminately at people inside the mosque. The terrorist can been seen changing magazines of his gun and shooting the dead over and over again.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern has called it an unprecedented terrorist attack.
Earlier, Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison said that hooting in Christchurch was carried out by “an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist” who was an Australian-born citizen.
Moreover, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan while reacting over the massacre in New Zealand said that the act reaffirms the fact that ‘terrorism has no religion.’
He further added that these acts are happening due to increased Islamophobia post 9/11.
