this is a bbc news special with anita mcveigh and david eades. a mass shooting at two mosques in the new zealand city of christchurch. a9 people are dead, many this is bbc world news. more are badly injured. i'm david eades. our main story today... it is with extreme sadness that a male in his late—20s has been i tell you that as at 7pm tonight, charged with murder and should we believe that a0 people have appear in a christchurch lost their lives in this act of extreme violence. court tomorrow morning. mass shootings at two mosques in the new zealand city of christchurch. more than 20 people have these are people who i would been seriously wounded. describe as having extremist views that have absolutely no place i could hear screaming and crying in new zealand and in fact have no place in the world. and i saw some people drop dead it went on about six minutes or more. worshippers were gunned down during friday prayers. three suspects are in custody. i could hear screaming and crying. police have defused a number of explosive devices worshippers were gunned down near the mosques. during friday prayers. police have defused a number of explosive we'll have the latest from christchurch on what the prime minister described as "one of new zealand's darkest days".

hello. we begin with breaking news. shooting attacks on two mosques in the new zealand city of christchurch. details are still emerging but, in the last hour, prime ministerjacinda ardern has confirmed that a0 people are known to have died. dozens more were injured. of those, around 20 rna serious condition. —— are in a serious condition. witnesses say at least one gunman opened fire on worshippers at the mosques, as they gathered for friday prayers. four suspects are in custody — three men and one woman. the prime minister of australia has

confirmed that an australian citizen is among those detained. he used the word "shooter" to describe him. we are expecting an update from the new zealand police commissioner in a matter of moments and we will bring that to you, of course. new zealand's prime ministerjacinda ardern has described the events as an extreme and unprecedented act of violence. unprecedented is how police are describing this attack. scores dead as two mosques are targeted during friday prayers. people ran for their lives but many did not make it. i was hearing shooting after shooting after shooting. it went on about six minutes or more. i could hear screaming and crying. people outside were also caught up in the chaos. i stopped the car in shock. i leaned either way, i think across the seats to try and avoid getting shot. a bullet went sailing over my car

struck someone in the back. it is believed the gunman filmed his attack. explosives were found attached to vehicles. we believe that a0 people have lost their lives in this act of extreme violence. it is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack. from what we know, it does appear to have been well planned. all mosques in the country have been told to close their doors. schools were put into lockdown. several people have been arrested. let's not presume the danger has gone. we want to make sure we are across the community, we are as visible and equipped as we need to be to make that happen. the australian prime minister said one of those arrested is from his country. i can confirm the individual who was taken into custody, i have been advised, is an australian—born citizen and, obviously, that element of investigation,

australian authorities are involved in. a community and a country now trying to comprehend one of its darkest days. we had a little bit from jacinda ahern. she is on the way to christchurch where she will be talking to emergency services. she said she will do that later in the evening. she was asked many questions about what was known of those who had been arrested and she did say they were not on any security watch lists. that is after she delivered her main update. this was from the city of wellington. i have now had the opportunity to be fully briefed with the details of the unprecedented events that took place in christchurch this afternoon. it is with extreme sadness

that i tell you that, as at 7pm tonight, we believe that a0 people have lost their lives in this act of extreme violence. ten have died at linwood avenue mosque, three of which were outside the mosque itself. the new zealand police commissioner has promised us an update and he is speaking now. after a0 people who are being treated in hospital, one has now passed. the total number of people who have died in this horrendous event a re who have died in this horrendous event are a9. 0ur who have died in this horrendous event are a9. our hearts go out to them and all of their family, event are a9. our hearts go out to them and all of theirfamily, their friends and loved ones. i want to assure everyone that we will do our best for them. at the end i will talk about and give you the 800

number so that people can contact us to get more information about those who have died and some surrounding circumstances. —— zero 800 number. i would like to also add that so far, one person, a male in his late 20s, has been charged with murder and should appear in the christchurch court tomorrow morning. three other people were apprehended. we believe one of those persons, who was armed, and was at the scene, may have had nothing to do with this incident and the two other people who had been apprehended in possession of firearms in the general environment, we are working hard to determine their involvement. we have recovered a number of firearms from both of

the scenes, linwood avenue and deans avenue. i would like to assure eve ryo ne avenue. i would like to assure everyone around new zealand that everyone around new zealand that every available police and emergency resource with our other government agencies and defence bulls are doing everything they can to keep our communities safe. we have had no other threat since he responded to this incident. —— we responded. we are working with a wide range of community to give support to eve ryo ne community to give support to everyone who needs it. we have staff around the country ensuring that eve ryo ne around the country ensuring that everyone is kept safe and that includes our defenders and special tactics group is right across the country being very vigilant and

having a presence around all of our masks, to ensure nothing further occurs. “— masks, to ensure nothing further occurs. —— mosques. this is a continuing situation and we will give you as much information as we can. i will answer questions as i can. i will answer questions as i can. i will answer questions as i can. i would like to give you the 0800 number. iwould can. i would like to give you the 0800 number. i would also like to commend and some of you will have seen their brave actions on social media of police staff who have responded to this incident. they have gone above and beyond to help people in the communities and apprehend at least one of the offenders. i take my hat off to all my staff. i am extremely proud of

what they had done today. why were these people not on the security watch list? where they completely unknown to the police? that is a very good question. no agency had any information about these people. ican any information about these people. i can also tell you i have been in contact with my australian colleagues. they had no information on them at full either and they are assisting with our inquiries. —— at all. part of our investigation will be to look back at every possibility, to ensure that we in law enforcement and security did not miss any opportunities to prevent this horrendous event. who carried out the shootings at the deans avenue mask? was it the same person as linwood avenue? i would love to

go into details. to go into who did not would not be proper. i know there is a name within the public domain that it would be improper for me now to confirm that because a person has been charged. there was a facebook made for the community. are you aware that there are allegations that police had early morning of the attack? i am only aware of the suggestion. i am attack? i am only aware of the suggestion. iam not attack? i am only aware of the suggestion. i am not aware of actually existing but if it did i will share fact. we never assume there are no other people involved. that is why there is an immense presence out there across canterbury

and right across new zealand. we do not have named or identified people we are looking for. it would be wrong to assume there is no one else. at this point we are not actively looking for any identify persons. how many days, weeks, months in the planning committee think this attack was?” months in the planning committee think this attack was? i do not know but it was a very well planned event. where the explosives on the body of one of the attackers?” event. where the explosives on the body of one of the attackers? i am aware of that commentary as well. that person may have suggested that. we have eliminated it as a possibility. there was not. we have also talked about ied devices on two vehicles. there were possibly two ieds on one vehicle. there is a real

heightened sense out there within the communities. people are being very vigilant and i congratulate them and encourage that. we had dealt with two bags which had been detonated and we do not believe they we re detonated and we do not believe they were a threat. it is said this event could be coordinated with other events coming? we do not have that information that it is always important to take precautions. i think there was early reporting which was confused with the fact that a0 people were taken to hospital very quickly for emergency

treatment. do you think synagogues should close as well? i am not aware of that advice. we are giving eve ryo ne of that advice. we are giving everyone advice to be very vigilant and take care of themselves. anything you may find suspicious so we can respond immediately. there is some reporting there could be an attack on saint patrick's day. some reporting there could be an attack on saint patrick's dayli some reporting there could be an attack on saint patrick's day. i am not aware of that fact. you are not aware of anything else in the country at that delete —— at this stage? we are being extremely vigilant in terms of any possibilities and that is what we wa nt to possibilities and that is what we want to ensure the public we are right on top of. there is a force of

over 1000. we are sending more. they should be there from wellington now. surrounding districts are sending staff. i should surrounding districts are sending staff. ishould imagine surrounding districts are sending staff. i should imagine every one of those 1000 staff are wanting to help out. the perpetrator held extremist views that were published. how is that not on the radar of the police? what the prime minister was referring to is what was published after 133 pm this afternoon. thank you. —— 1:33pm. after 133 pm this afternoon. thank you. --1:33pm. that came from after 133 pm this afternoon. thank you. -- 1:33pm. that came from the commissioner of the new zealand police. above all, the number of people who have lost their lives in the attack on two mosques had risen

to a9. as he was speaking he had of another one who had died in hospital. 0ne male in his late 20s charged with murder he will appear in court in the morning, new zealand time. he referred to the three others who had been arrested saying they were carrying firearms. it may be they did not have anything to do with this incident. that hangs a little bit as a or query. these people were not on any security watch list. no agency had any information about these people. he brought in the australian authorities into that. given that the suspect, he probably is the man facing a murder charge may be australian, they would be looking to

see they have not missed anything. —— who probably. they are not actively searching for anyone. a9 people now known to have been killed in this attack. let's go over to christchurch. and speak to martin van beynen, senior writer for stuff news who's been hearing stories for those who were involved. i have heard many stories from people who were in the mosque at the time of the shooting managed to get out, managed to flee the scene and obviously with some horrendous experiences to report.” obviously with some horrendous experiences to report. i can imagine. can you a sense as to what their experience was? a lot of it is around the shock, horror and panic as the gunman started shooting. the

mosque is divided into three halls. some people are hearing more than they could see. 0nce some people are hearing more than they could see. once the danger became very evident, most people thought about how to get out of the place, to safety, and sometimes leaving injured people behind and also loved ones and relatives. the shooting, as we understand, went on for a considerable time. yes. some of the survivors talk about ten, 15 minutes, which sounds too long but we now the gunman returned... started one out of shooting and then

returned to finish people off in a very callous way. so it could well have gone on for a lot longer than you might expect in a situation like that. thank you very much indeed for bringing us the comments and views he had from the people inside the mosque itself. i want to take us over to sydney now. a lot of focus has been on the man described by the australian prime minister, scott morrison, as the shooter. 0ur correspondent phil mercer is following developments from sydney in australia. there is a lot of working in tandem, as there has to be, with the australian authorities. yes, that is because the australian prime minister scott morrison, says one of the men detained in christchurch is an australian born citizen and the prime minister here is saying that he believes that this was the work

ofa he believes that this was the work of a white supremacist extremist. there has been information circulating on the media here in australia as to who this man is probably is. there is speculation he is in his late 20s and had railed against mass immigration and had posted some sort of manifesto before allegedly carrying out this attack. relations between australia and new zealand are very close and no doubt the close relationship will work in terms of the team out between the security agencies. 0ne terms of the team out between the security agencies. one big question being asked is why were individuals like there is not on a security watch list? that will be part of what will be an exhausted investigation into this brutal act of mass murder in new zealand. mike bush already speaking for the

australian saying they had nothing on these people either. that underscores the difficulties that the authorities, not only here in australia but over the tasman sea and new zealand, but other countries face in trying to prevent these sorts of attacks. if individuals have not been brought to the attention of authorities, what can be done to stop them? the answer is, not a lot. that is the challenge facing australia, new zealand and other parts of the world when it comes to these sorts of atrocities. we do understand the gunman involved was a live streaming the attack from ago was a live streaming the attack from a go pro camera. that is absolutely hideous to watch. when you listen to the audio of that recording, you can hear with ghastly regularity, the sounds of the rounds leaving that weapon and of course the vision shows the gunman picking off his

victims. we now know that a9 people have been killed in new zealand. there are many others seriously ill in hospital and a 28—year—old man is expected to appear in court, charged with murder tomorrow as the investigation continues. safe to say, this is an attack that could well and truly change new zealand for ever. well worth pointing out the police in new zealand say they are not looking for any more suspects. the authorities, including the prime minister, have a third to people —— have told people not to refer to that video at all. do not go there and look at it. it is deeply upsetting that anything that would propagate the distorted m essa g es of would propagate the distorted messages of the people who carried this out would be a big mistake. a senior member of the mosque was in the building

at the time of the shooting. he has been speaking to a journalist near the scene outside the police cordon. as a warning to viewers, he describes upsetting scenes. i was inside the mosque. i was in the side room and the imam had started the sermon. so, everybody was settled, you know. it was very peaceful, calm and quiet, as usually it is when the imam starts talking, everybody is quite and it is a pin drop silence. but then, suddenly, the shooting started. it started in the main room because the shooter must have come through the hallway. i was in the side room so i did not see who was shooting. but i saw that some people were running out through

my room where i was in and also i saw some people had blood on their body and some people were limping. at that moment, you know, i realised it was really serious. a couple of people said to me, you are in a wheelchair, you've got to get out now. i tried to get out and i pushed myself in the back where my car was parked and i was behind the car. and then, from there, i was hearing shooting after shooting after shooting. it went on about six minutes or more. i could hear screaming and crying. i saw some people who were, you know, drop dead. and some people were running away. i was iwas ina i was in a wheelchair.

i could not go anywhere and i didn't want to because i was afraid of what was going to happen to the ladies, to my wife, so i stayed there. but, luckily, the shooter, he did his massacre inside the mosque and he did not come in the back, otherwise he could have got me. here's one very lucky man but so many were not. we have had confirmation in the last few minutes at a9 people are confirmed to have been killed in this attack. just to give you some context on the map. this is the south island of new zealand and christchurch. two mosques were attacked, the al noor mosque and linwood mask. it was round about lunchtime new zealand time. about eight and a half hours

ago now. the city has been in lockdown for most of the time since then. schoolchildren were held in schools for hours to come. they have now obviously been allowed to go home. there is still a high security level on the streets of christchurch. joining me now on the phone from christchurch is eyewitness carl pomare who was driving past the mosque with his colleague when they saw people running towards them. i was driving just outside the al noor mosque and i saw to write of people running outside the mosque, in the same direction as me on the footpath. they were running for their lives. i said to my colleague, something is happening here. in the next seconds there was rapid fire.

not by works but a semiautomatic rifle. these people were being knocked down like ten p. i saw them being hit from behind. they were falling to the ground. —— like ten pins. we stopped a few hundred metres up the road and decided, what will we do? we need to go back and help these guys. we parked up and set upa help these guys. we parked up and set up a cordon when another car. we tried to help people. he assisted the first person we saw lying on the footpath. there were lots of bodies lying down. there were no sirens, no police, no ambulances because this had just happened. there was no other outside assistance apart from the people who were there. just

helping these people on the ground, fighting for their lives. it was not until about 15 minutes later the ambulance teams came. the ambulances could not come to the area was secured. people were asking us to ta ke secured. people were asking us to take them to hospital but we could not. we made a call to get a father and daughter, the daughter was critical. we got her into a car and we managed to get her out pretty quickly that the father, we do not know whether they survived. the gentleman my co—worker was supporting passed away in his arms, sadly, after 30 when it —— minutes. 15 to 20 minutes helping civilians until support came in. everything you had described was outside the

mosque. this was people who were being gunned down in the streets, in the outdoors. that is correct. the gunman had already been into the mosque and he was coming out and following people who were running away from the mosque and shooting them as they were running away in them as they were running away in the back. i saw them all hit the ground as we were driving past. we had more rounds within another minute. as soon as we started getting into the area there were another ten rounds and we ducked down. then probably anotherfour, five rounds. we did not know where the gunman was. my colleague saw the gunman. he had gone on to the footpath and he's still shooting towards the car park area and tha nkfully towards the car park area and thankfully not at the people who

we re thankfully not at the people who were already injured. he ducked away and we did not see him again. an extraordinarily brave thing to do to stop. i am sure that did not pass your minds at the time. we did not see a gunman, we saw people on the footpath, injured. ithought, we need to go back and help these guys. we set up a cordon and helped people inside the cordon. helping these people as much as we could until the help arrived. sadly, the police cannot come until the area is secure. you are trying to keep eve ryo ne secure. you are trying to keep everyone safe. for some people, sadly, it was too late. thank you

very much. it has helped us to understand how the gunman was operating, where he went. again we are hearing of ten to 15 minutes in which phi was emanating from that area as people were being frankly picked off in the street as well as in the mosque. dr mustafa fa rouk is the president of the federation of islamic associations of new zealand. thank you forjoining us. i imagine it is difficult to put into words what you're feeling at the moment? yes, we are all very sad, shocked. this was obviously targeted at the key moment, the time of friday prayers, a lot of people who were worshipping at that time? that's right, yes. what are you going to be

able to do in response? what we have heard so far from almost everyone we have spoken to in new zealand is an overwhelming sense of shock and grief at what has happened but also of community support for those people who were affected. yes, we are definitely experiencing tremendous support from the wider community. new zealanders in general, it is that kind of society. we pride ourselves come when we go around the world with tell people we are living in one of the most beautiful and peaceful countries in the world and when we woke up this morning, getting ready to go a ways and our differentjobs morning, getting ready to go a ways and our different jobs and morning, getting ready to go a ways and our differentjobs and in the afternoon to go to the mosque and pray, nobody expected something like this to happen. when i went to the mosque to do my prayers i did not think anything like this would

happen. when i came out from the mosque was when i realised that a very terrible thing was happening here in christchurch. i presume that is also the reason why you would need to draw strength from and encourage the muslim community within new zealand to respond to this, that this was a, out of the blue and b, completely out of keeping with the experience muslims have in new zealand in general? absolutely, absolutely. we are saying that this incident is not going to make us feel different from the way we feel about new zealand. muslims are welcome. we did not experience anything never came dashing a negative. —— anything negative. we believe this country still is a country that is very muslim friendly. we have not any

worries about it at all so this incident, the people who committed these atrocities, think they will change their mind about where we are living or stop us being muslims but that will not happen. that is the message we would like them to understand and to hear. and can i ask, have you been able to speak to any of those who work in these two mosques to find out what happened but also to find out how they are? well, we are working very closely with some of our own community policing people who are on the ground, as you would imagine, a lot of those living in christchurch are getting phone calls from different parts of the world and for those directly affected, we do not even know who is directly affected so it's very difficult to reach many individuals. we have a very good

friends, some family members, everybody is worried slowly i think the details of what happened there will come out. i am on my way to the city but all the flights have been cancelled so i'm half way, i'm in wellington and hopefully tomorrow morning they will allow some of the flights to go to christchurch and then i will get there and assess what is happening on the ground. some flights certainly have been banned out of christchurch. i want to ask you one last point, doctor, because the police have made it very clear that intelligence services had no idea about these individuals. they were on no watchlist at all in the same was said for the australian authorities. how are where have you been within new zealand of the sort of hate messages that seem to have accompanied this shocking attack?

like i said earlier, we are not aware of people, a group like that who are hateful towards muslims. it is not something that is common around here so we never expect that to happen. we really don't know who is involved. thank you very much for joining us, doctor. the situation they're obviously desperately difficult. dr mustafa fa rouk, they're obviously desperately difficult. dr mustafa farouk, one of those very keen to get into christchurch as quickly as possible. aaron campbell is a christchurch resident and was at the climate change student protest that was shut down at 2pm by the police. in terms of the protest, you are not on your own, this was a big, nationwide event. i would not call

it pale into insignificance but suddenly you are in a whole different world just hours later. suddenly you are in a whole different world just hours latenm all happened within 20 minutes. we we re all happened within 20 minutes. we were ina all happened within 20 minutes. we were in a different world within 20 minutes unfortunately. in cathedral square there were approximately 2000 stu d e nts square there were approximately 2000 students and i would have said that we re students and i would have said that were about 500 adults helping chaperone and supervise these people, making sure that these students, who ranged in age from six to 18 years old, that they were in a safe and caring environment and they we re safe and caring environment and they were there for the right reasons and they were. they made a fantastic message, they relocated it beautifully. now we are in shock and disbelief at the horrific events that followed. it is just devastating for us as a city and as a nation. how aware are you all of what was going on at the point when the police said they had to shut it down? i would say we were unaware.

when the police officer approached the stage and talked into the microphone, it was about 20 minutes after the start of the first incident, from what i can gather as far as incident, from what i can gather as faras i'm aware, incident, from what i can gather as far as i'm aware, it was not widely known what was happening, if anything at all. at that stage, the message was that everybody should leave the square immediately, in a controlled and orderly fashion, and make their way home. and if anybody was going to be going to the west, which is where the al noor mosque is, it was described as the christchurch girls high school area, they should try to find an alternative method of getting home in that direction if they needed to. are you christchurch born and bred? no, i'm from further south in invercargill but i have been in christchurch for about 13 years. so the south island is your home, i'm

wondering what this does to you as a native kiwi and south islander, when you start reflecting on what has happen. at least a9 people have lost their lives in this. ijust. .. we haven't had that long to digest and comprehend that loss of life. christchurch is a city of a00,000 people. we are very proud of our multicultural city. we are people here from all over the world and we embrace them and welcome them. we wa nt embrace them and welcome them. we want people to come here from all over the world. this event, this terrorist event, as the prime minister described it, itjust gives usa minister described it, itjust gives us a gut punch. as you will know, it was just over us a gut punch. as you will know, it wasjust over eight us a gut punch. as you will know, it was just over eight years ago that we lost 185 people in a devastating natural disaster in the earthquake here in christchurch. but the event

to date was premeditated and it is murder and it is wrong. thank you very much indeed. aaron campbell is a resident of christchurch who was attending a climate change protest. there were a lot of them around the country in new zealand in the course of the day. i want to focus on some of the day. i want to focus on some of the day. i want to focus on some of the people who were caught up in this attack itself. among them were members of the bangladesh cricket team. i say it caught up, they were extremely lucky, they were heading to the mosque for prayers as the shooting happened. they are all safe, they are currently in new zealand coming to the end of a cricket tour. they were meant to start the third test match in christchurch on saturday. of course that has been cancelled.

let's get more from our correspondent in dhaka akbar hossain. some other bank that issues were caught up in the attack even though these cricketers escape? indeed, the bangladeshi cricket team were extremely lucky and had eight narrow escape. the situation could have been very much different if they we re been very much different if they were inside. the one press conference were inside. the one press co nfe re nce save were inside. the one press conference save them, bangladeshi journalists were accompanying the tea m journalists were accompanying the team in christchurch. the captain held a press conference at the stadium which is close to the mosque, and the press conference was actually ten minutes delayed to finish that made the delay of the cricketers to get inside the mosque. had they reached the mosque ten minutes before, it would have been very catastrophic, no doubt about it. they were actually in a practice

session in the stadium when the prayer time came in. they got inside the bus but the bus actually stopped in front of the past, some 200 metres away. they were sitting inside the bus and were about to get down and get inside the mosque and one woman, she came in loudly and said don't inside, the government took control of the mosque and an attack was going on. the bangladeshi cricketers stayed in the bus and they waited for ten or 15 minutes and they could see what was happening. many people were coming from the mosque having bullet injuries, full of blood all around and they could see. sensing the situation, they got down from the bus and went immediately to the stadium. they were advised not to go anywhere by the bangladesh cricket board and after two hours they were taken to their hotel room and they are now safe. the officials have

said that. they will return to bangladesh as soon as possible, it depends on the availability of tickets. if they can get tickets today they will come back today, or tomorrow. but the sad part is that two bangladeshis are among the dead, who were praying inside the mosque. 0ne who were praying inside the mosque. one was a professor at the university. he has been living in christchurch for a long time. this isa christchurch for a long time. this is a very sad... a bangladeshi housewife was also shot dead. at least eight bangladeshis received injuries and are receiving treatment in hospital. people in bangladesh are very in hospital. people in bangladesh are very shocked was it such a hate

crime happen in new zealand. they cannot even imagine this situation happening in new zealand. the bangladeshi prime minister condemned the attack and urged the new zealand prime minister to take proper action to ensure justice and bring exemplary punishment to the criminal perpetrators who have done this. an attack inside a mosque is not very familiar, it is completely unheard of in bangladesh. we have seen the cafe attack in 2016 went more than 20 foreign nationals were killed in bangladesh but this sort of hate crime, getting an automatic rifle inside a mosque and killing a9 people, it is completely unheard of. people in bangladesh, they usually think of new zealand as a peace loving country, there is no gun carrying culture there. this is the fifth english cricket team tour in new zealand in the last 19 years and whenever they go to new zealand to play cricket, the talk was very entertaining, they enjoyed the cricket but this time this was a

horrific scene. sorry to jump in. deeply disturbing images and realities that have hit christchurch over the course of the last few hours. they have a direct effect on australia as well, notjust because it isa australia as well, notjust because it is a neighbour. the australian prime minister, scott morrison, has confirmed that one of the four people arrested in the christchurch attack is an australian citizen. at a news conference, he began by offering his support to victims of the shooting. australia and new zealand, we are notjust allies, we are notjust partners, we are family. the australian prime minister, scott morrison, has confirmed that and, as family members with our new zealand cousins today, we grieve, we are shocked, we are appalled, we are outraged and we stand here and condemn absolutely the attack that occurred

today by an extremist right wing, violent terrorist, that has taken the lives, stolen the lives, in a vicious, murderous attack that has claimed so many new zealanders. this attack reminds us of the evil that is ever present and would seek to strike out at any time. and i particularly want to convey my heartfelt sympathies not only to all the new zealand people, as i'm sure all australians would join me in doing, but i particularly want to express my sincere prayers and thoughts for those new zealanders, indeed australians, of islamic faith

today, who have been the subject of this vicious and callous right—wing extremist attack. i'm not going to go through the details of this today because that is properly done by the new zealand authorities. the new zealand authorities are conducting that investigation, i have just concluded a briefing with our own authorities here and agencies, and it is for new zealand who are leading obviously investigation to be able to confirm details of any individuals and certainly the number of casualties, and i will leave that to them to make those announcements. i have already been in contact with prime minister ardern. she is obviously caught up in many briefings today. she described it as the darkest day and i agree with her, i agree absolutely with her. australian authorities have already put in place all the necessary responses and precautions that are necessary here in australia. 0ur agencies are working closely

with new zealand authorities and have prepared other capacities to be stood up to support new zealand as and when requested. i can confirm that the individual who was taken into custody, i have been advised is an australian—born citizen, and obviously that element of the investigation, australian authorities are involved in and they will be proceeding with their investigation which has already been stood up involving all the relevant agencies. scott morrison, the australian prime minister, dealing with the incident as quickly as he could that was a couple of hours ago now. it was only about eight hours ago that these shootings began and just to remind you, a9 people have been confirmed to have been killed and a good many are still in serious condition with gunshot wounds in hospital, a number

—— another 20 are described as serious. i'm nowjoined by dr paul buchanan, a former intelligence consultant to us government security agencies and the director of 36th parallel, a non—governmental geopolitical risk and strategic analysis consultancy based in auckland. we have heard from prime minister jacinda ardern and from the new zealand police commissioner, absolutely no trace, nothing in terms of a watch list for security to work on with these people. yes, someone dropped the ball. that could well have been done for political reasons. the problem is that since 9/11, the intelligence community here in new zealand has focused almost exclusively on trying to detect and prevent the threat of home—grown islamic extremist, jihadists, and to the detriment of

it monitoring other potential threats, of which there are plenty. in spite of new zealand's a reputation for being a peaceful country. specifically, there seems to have been a downplaying of the threat posed by violent white supremacist groups, which are well known in the christchurch area, and which have a track record of committing acts of violence against immigrant communities, usually the violence is street violence, fists, feet, possibly use of blunt insolence but there is a long track records of skinheads and neo—nazis venting their frustrations on people of colour in christchurch. it seems to be concentrated there. sorry to interrupt, when jacinda ardern to be concentrated there. sorry to interrupt, whenjacinda ardern said earlier that security has to focus

on threat and ideology and extremism of any sort, you're feeling that whilst that stands up in terms of what you look for, they are simply not covering the whole range? no, given a limited amount of resources, even for the intelligence community in new zealand, they really had to pass out those resources when it came to threat assessments. again, you are trying to assess notjust the people who talk hateful language or violent prone language but people who have a propensity to act. i would simply say that the emphasis, and now in retrospect the overemphasis, was on the possibility ofjihad is not on the possibility that there would be right—wing extremism that would turn to violence in this way. i have to say, with all due respect to our prime minister, she said that these people who committed this act, the done men

and their accomplices, are not part of us, new zealanders. i beg to disagree. they are part of us, they area disagree. they are part of us, they are a cancer in our midst. a well known cancer, to be honest with you. it makes it all the more puzzling, knowing that these groups exist, particularly in christchurch, that they never came to the attention of they never came to the attention of the authorities or they did, and the dangers they posed to the community and particularly the islamic community, were downplayed. do you think it would not necessarily have been that difficult to track the sort of people who would have done this? well, that would certainly be some difficulties but let me put it to you this way. i received within minutes of the attack the manifesto of the gunman and links to his lifestrea m. of the gunman and links to his lifestream. i got to watch that horror show pretty much live. what appalled me was that he had been on

these extremist threats, i will not mention the platforms, not to give them any more publicity, but it was amazing, he has been on those threads openly talking about his preparations, putting pictures of things like launch capacity magazines on these pictures, and he was being encouraged by hundreds of other people to include some people in new zealand and when he lifestrea m in new zealand and when he lifestream to the atrocity, he was being cheered on by hundreds of people. it truly was appalling. something went missing. both the electronic surveillance and certainly the human surveillance. i'm more familiar with the human intelligence side than the signal side but let's say that both sides failed on this one. the only good news that will come out of this is

twofold. they were able to catch four people relatively quickly, including the gunmen, from what i understand and that will allow them to get into their wider circles and find out just how to get into their wider circles and find outjust how wide this cancer exists in new zealand. that is a cancer of violent, armed extremists. the other thing is a message of hope, perhaps, which will turn the corner on the islamophobia that is also rife in new zealand and begin to look at refugee committees with a little more empathy and compassion than heretofore has been the case. paul buchanan, thank you very much indeed for your comments coming, as they do, in the aftermath of the shootings at two mosques in christchurch, linwood and al noor, in which we have had confirmed that a9 people have been killed. no surprise that there has been a huge response, from new zealand obviously but also all over the world. this is what jacinda ardern

but also all over the world. this is whatjacinda ardern said. theresa may tweeted to say... european council president donald tusk said... the turkish president has also

spoken with great condemnation of the attack. pakistan's prime minister, imran khan, wrote... there were a lot more of those and there are more on the bbc news website. to bring you up to date, the latest figure is that a9 people we re the latest figure is that a9 people were killed in a mass shooting at two mosques, both inside and outside the mosques, in christchurch as we can see on the south island. the al noor mosque and across town to the east, the linwood mosque. there were also a considerable number of people who have gunshot wounds who are still being treated in hospital. security in the city is still very

high at street level. we will keep across this story for you as more updates come in. you're watching bbc news. good morning, another blustery day for us but is set to turn even still be at the weekend. we have this ribbon of cloud in the atlantic which is pushing its way eastward across the uk. with that, some weather fronts continuing to push their way weather fronts continuing to push theirway in, weather fronts continuing to push their way in, one cold front moving its way southwards as we go through the morning. that will bring some average of rain, quite a bit of cloud and it will stay cloudy with patchy rain across the south, especially the south—west. further north, some sunny spells developing, one or two showers as well, they could be a bit wintry over at the higher ground of scotland and a strong and gusty winds, especially in the east. maximum temperatures, seven or eight in northern areas, 13

or 1a degrees in the south. tonight, this rain will re—intensify as it moves further north and east with some hill smoke coming with that. temperatures come no lower than nine or10 temperatures come no lower than nine or 10 degrees in the south but chillierfurther or 10 degrees in the south but chillier further north dash back with some hill snow. we have this weather system moving in, mild air in the south, colder to the north and this low pressure is pushing in which gives a wet and windy weather and as it meets the colder air across northern areas, it will give significant snowfall across scotland. met much over higher ground but at lower levels there could be some snow as well. quite happy rain in wales, northern ingle, staying drier in the south but strong winds for many, especially england and wales, up to 60 mph.

strong and gusty winds in northern areas where it will feel quite chilly on saturday, temperatures of four or chilly on saturday, temperatures of fouror5 chilly on saturday, temperatures of four or 5 degrees. for england and wales, on the mother side so 10—13d. that mild air will push away on sunday. the low pressure moving into the north sea but we are left with a brisk north north—westerly wind and that will give us some sunshine across many parts but also bring a few showers which could be on the wintry site, mainly over higher ground on sunday. a more chilly day, especially for england and wales. those temperatures down to nine or 10 degrees, coming up a bit in the north, 7—9d. next week it will turn a bit milder, a bit quieter as well with high—pressure developing.