today at five — 49 people are dead and dozens have been wounded in mass shootings at two mosques in new zealand. the attack, on worshippers attending friday prayers in the city of christchurch — is the deadliest in the nation's history. i was hearing that shooting after shooting after shooting. it went on for six minutes or more. ijust don't for six minutes or more. i just don't understand for six minutes or more. ijust don't understand why someone would hurt as like this, in such a way, like an animal. why would you treat us like that? the suspect‘s been identified as brenton tarran, a 28—year—old australian who live—streamed the attack on social media. security experts say it was widely shared.

i went and looked today and i gotta tell you, while he was committing this atrocity, he was being cheered on by hundreds of people on these channels, including new zealanders. that is disgusting. a man in his late 20s has been arrested and charged with murder. new zealand's prime minister, jacinda ardern, says it's a sombre moment for the country. this is one of new zealand ‘s darkest days. clearly what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence. we'll have the latest from from new zealand in a moment. the other main stories on bbc news at 5: dup leaders in westminster say they've had good discussions with cabinet ministers ahead of a third vote on theresa may's brexit deal. fishermans friends

tells the true story of a group of cornish singers who get signed to a major music label. find out what mark kermode thought of that and the rest of this week's releases in the film review. it's five o ‘clock — our top story. it was, according to new zealand's prime minister, one of the country's darkest days. tonight at least 49 people are dead and dozens more have been injured after a gunman opened fire on worshippers who were at friday prayers at two mosques in the city of christchurch and livestreamed the attack on social media. the suspect has been named as brenton tarrant, an austalian and right—wing extremist.

a 28—year—old man has been charged with murder and will appear in court tomorrow. our first report is from paul adams. drama on a quiet street in christchurch. wheels still spinning on a car rammed by police, a suspect wrestled to the ground by armed officers. the police dealing with events without parallel in new zealand's history. outside a mosque in linwood, east of the city centre, more frantic police action. officers called to the scene of a second terrible shooting. word of mass casualties now beginning to emerge and, with it, shocking accounts from survivors. there's shooting after shooting after shooting. it went on about six minutes or more. i could hear screaming and crying. i saw some people drop dead. a gunman identified

as brenton tarrant live streamed his attack on facebook. he earlier published a 73—page manifesto full of hatred online. the shootings happened as worshippers gathered for friday prayers. they watched helpless as the gunman kept firing. there was one guy changing the gun and taking another one. he parked on this side, next to the mosque house. he just took the gun and started firing again, you know. the attacks began in the early afternoon here at the al noor mosque in hagley park. soon afterwards a second mosque, not far away, came under attack. at the deans avenue mosque, we now know that 41 people have lost their lives. and at the linwood mosque, seven have lost their lives. of the a0 people who are being treated at christchurch hospital,

one has now passed. so the total number of people who have died in this horrendous event is 49. only when the shooting stopped could ambulances reach the two mosques. soon, dozens of wounded people were being rushed to hospital and, all day, the number of reported deaths continued to rise. police had parts of new zealand's second—largest city under lockdown for hours. mosques told to close their doors, the country now on the highest possible alert. new zealand's prime minister had defiant words for those responsible. you may have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you. we have undoubtedly experienced an attack today which is unprecedented, unlike anything we have experienced before, but as i say new zealand has been chosen because we are not a place where violent

extremism exists. we reject those notions and me must continue to reject them. this is not an enclave for that kind of behaviour and ideology. we will, and must, reject it. this is a place where people should feel secure and will feel secure. i will not let this change new zealand's profile. none of us should. today's events have shaken new zealand and its small muslim population to their core. you don't think something like this could happen in new zealand, in christchurch of all places. we're such a small community, we're so kind and loving so i don't understand why someone would hurt us like this in such a way... just like an animal. why would you treat us like that? just heard the news and... i couldn't put into words how i'm feeling right now. with the country in shock, one of its sporting idols, rugby player sonny bill williams, posted his reaction. yeah, i'mjust...

deeply, deeply saddened that this would happen in new zealand. and there was a lucky escape for members of bangladesh's cricket team, approaching one of the mosques when the shooting started. a test match due to begin tomorrow has been called off. this is new zealand's worst mass shooting. as the country grieves, expressions of sympathy have been pouring in from around the world. paul adams, bbc news. dozens of people attending friday prayers were caught up in the atrocity and bystanders too were affected. one woman who was driving past at the time of the shooting, told local reporters what she saw as she stopped to help. i heard and saw what i thought were firecrackers and i saw young fellows running down the street. all of a sudden, it got quite violent and i

thought, these are not firecrackers. they started falling and one felt just to the left of my car and one fell to the right. for a few minutes, i stopped the car in shock andi minutes, i stopped the car in shock and i leaned either way across the seats to avoid being shot and a p pa re ntly seats to avoid being shot and apparently a bullet went sailing over my car. we opened my passenger door and we pulled around behind and opened up the back behind to give some protection. he had a first aid kit and he crouched and went on the way back to get it. he lifted up his shirt and way back to get it. he lifted up his shirtandi way back to get it. he lifted up his shirtand i put way back to get it. he lifted up his shirt and i put the pressure on. a quy shirt and i put the pressure on. a guy came and give me some help as well because he had to put some pressure on and my pearled hands we re pressure on and my pearled hands were shaking that hard. i was scared. i thought i could not do a good job. the worst thing was, we could hear the ambulances but they

couldn't get to us and then a nice quy couldn't get to us and then a nice guy on the other side, he put three people in his car and took them to hospital the guy on the street, he was trying during his wife and the other guy, i could see, he was in bad shape but i couldn't get to him because that was where the gunfire was coming from. the guy i was compressing, he was trying to ring his wife and i managed to get it and a nswer his wife and i managed to get it and answer the phone. i said to her, your husband has been shot outside the mark. i said, don't come here because you will not get three, go to the hospital. i kept talking to him and telling him she was waiting for him at the hospital and he wasn't to give up. we did the best for him until we got some help. in the meantime, the per guy across the road passed away. my car is still

down there. that is so terrible. i am sick to sex and i never thought in my life i would live to see something like this, not in new zealand. it's now very early saturday morning in christchurch — our correspondent, hwyel griffith is there, and just sent us this update. this is still a city in lockdown, there are armed police on every corner and streets blocked off. we are told he walked from room to room, killing indus currently. men, leaving and children, leaving no one behind. he then carried to the second location. schultz also fired in the street. there were chaotic scenes before the police could ram the vehicle and apprehend the vehicle. four people were arrested

and police say one of them was responsible for murder and the 28—year—old is due to appear in court tomorrow here but still a sense of grief and shock quips christchurch. the countries premised are talking about this as an unprecedented event in new zealand. the terror threat level for the very first time in the country has been raised to high. the message has been sent to all mosques in the country, to close their doors. there is concern there may still be people at large and the threat is not yet over. the christchuch gunman appears to have published a document before the attack in which he set out his intentions. he espoused a far—right, anti—immigrant ideology as the basis for his actions. our security correspondent gordon corera reports. brenton tarrant has been identified as the 28—year—old responsible for the attacks, issuing warnings beforehand on social media and then streaming himself live on the internet

carrying it out. he was not known to the authorities in new zealand or australia, where he was born. 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 i will be proceeding with their investigation which has already been stood up, involving all the relevant agencies. just before the attack he posted a link online to a rambling 70—page document. in it, he described himself as a racist, fascist and nationalist. he said he wanted to target what he called invaders, in order to incite violence and spread fear. he said he was not a member of any organisation but does say he interacted with many nationalist groups, taking his inspiration from others who have carried out attacks. if you look at his facebook page, you can see the influence

of the international connections or influences he has got and then, of course, what we have seen is the rise of islamophobia. he was not on the australian security services or police watchlist either, and i think that has to raise some fundamental questions about the monitoring of these groups. he claims he began planning his attack two years ago. he says he came to new zealand only temporarily whilst he planned and trained, but then in the last three months, decided to carry out his attack in christchurch. now the new zealand authorities, who have never had to face an attack like this, will be urgently trying to establish whether or not anyone else was involved, whilst they and other governments will also be hoping that these events do not lead to any further violence in response. the suspect is believed to be

australian and our sydney correspondence has been listening to reaction there. that relationship will come into sharper focus given that the main suspect was apparently born or living in the northern part of new south wales. the australian minister has described benton tarrant as a right—wing extremist, a white supremacist so certainly his background will have to be gone through forensically by a trillion investigators. we understand that a 28—year—old man has been charged with murder and he is due to appear in court in christchurch in the morning so as the court process proceeds, more light should be shed on the motivations of the gunman or gun men behind these attacks and i think it is safe to say that new

zealand will almost certainly be changed forever because of this. the former prime minister helen clark was saying this was a watershed moment and indeed, the deputy minister in new zealand said this was an end to the age of innocence in new zealand for many years, people living in new zealand thought they were living in a small country perched the bottom of the world, far away from the worlds trouble spots but the trauma inflicted on the people of christchurch today means that that age of innocence in the age, in the words of winston peters, is well and truly over. our correspondent richard galpin has been looking at the international reaction to the events in christchurch.

a vigil avigil in a vigil in honour of all those killed and injured. amongst those coming to pay their respects, the labour leader, jeremy corbyn. an attack on a mosque, a church, a synagogue or a temple is an attack on all of us. the only response is to people bring people together. we live on one planet, in one world. let us respect each other‘s diversity. also today in the house of commons, an expression of revulsion the mass shooting of men, women and children had been attending friday prayers. this barbarity, this evil, this depravity will not prevail. we will stand up to it and it will be defeated. colleagues, i propose a minutes silence starting now. in a tweet, the prime minster expressed her deepest condolences to the people of

new zealand, saying her thoughts are with all those affected by this sickening act of violence. for the muslim community in britain, the christchurch attack is very shocking, bringing a sense of vulnerability. but while precautions are being taken here, there is a determination not to be intimidated. we are resilient and we will not accept that and today, i believe, more than 2000 people will be attending to show solidarity and show that we are not scared and we will get on with our lives as normal. beyond britain, in parts of the muslim world, like here in turkey, people have responded to the attack with anger. because, they say, rising anti—muslim sentiment has not been dealt with. translation: with this attack, the full world has been watching,

exceeded the level of individual harassment and reached the dimension ofa harassment and reached the dimension of a massacre. leaders of other muslim countries have also been speaking out, like pakistan ‘s prime minister, who tweeted that what has happened reaffirms what we have a lwa ys happened reaffirms what we have always maintained, that terrorism does not have a religion. this sort of attack against the muslim population in new zealand is unprecedented. it's a small community. there were just over 16,000 muslims in new zealand at the time of the last census in 2013. that represents around one percent of the total population. but it is a fast—growing community. the number of people identifying as muslims rose by 28 per cent between 2006 and 2013. the federation of islamic associations of new zealand lists 57 mosques and other muslim centres across the country.

well, let's get some reaction from the muslim community in the uk now. with me is miqdaad versi who is spokesperson for the muslim council of britain. horrific events in new zealand, what has been your reaction to what you have heard and seen? it is devastating for the communities there and for muslims across the world. here we have a place of worship, which has been attacked. what is concerning is that most mosques are very open. anybody is any —— able to enter across the world which makes muslims very vulnerable because anyone can enter at any point. we have to be more careful and vigilant but of course the same time, we cannot let these terrorists went in anyway and we are so going to be participating in everything in the same way. what does that mean for security at mosques in this country, does the need to be more protection? it is a

fine balance, isn't it? very much so and winter ensure that we don't have so much security that muslims feel it isa so much security that muslims feel it is a worry to go to the mosque where in reality these types of attacks are extremely rare and don't affect that many people. at the same time, there was a terrorist attack in the uk only a couple of years ago ata in the uk only a couple of years ago at a mosque in finsbury park, so this is to be taken seriously. at the moment, the government has a fund in place to give money to synagogues and other faiths for security. that needs to change, there needs to be a greater emphasis on supporting mosques who want to have extra security and we need to be able to deal with this more effectively. we have seen how this government used social media, how worried are you about is a muscle beerin worried are you about is a muscle beer in general and in particular this on the internet? this will be asa this on the internet? this will be as a serious problem in this country and across the world. we have got many positives in this country in

the way we have engaged with the prime minister, ministers from across the country had really engaged very positively and showed solidarity with muslim communities here but at the same time we have real problems with comes to social attitudes here. approximately half the population think islam is a threat to the british way of life. happily the conspiracy theories and even 31% of young children between the age of ten and 14 believe there are too many muslims, they are taking over the country. if 31% of young children think muslims are taking over the country, these ideas of muslims ticking over, that is a serious challenge that must be tackled. tackled how? it has to be donein tackled. tackled how? it has to be done in different ways. we need leadership from our politicians and we need to recognise where this comes from. many sections of the media have propagated this hate, have platforms that hate and the

people who have written things or who have authored books and other really worrying elements and approaches that have been taken and they have been platforms in national newspapers, spread amongst many readers and this has created this atmosphere that muslims are the other, apart from the rest of society and they are trying to take over. these ideas are notjust debated and discussed in reasonable ways but instead, in a right—wing, far right sensationalist way, in a way that undermines muslim committees and does not get the platform for those who are different perspectives to counter it. we have in essence is a platform for far right hate which is ready devastating in the social attitudes across this country. when you see that part right hate, as you describe it, on social media, are you asking the social media companies to do more to tackle it as

well? there is a great response ability for social media giants in this. we have had the manifesto itself, the video being shared as well as a large amount of hate that has been spread across these social media giants. there is always going to bea media giants. there is always going to be a balance between freedom of expression of the individual but also the fact that when you start inciting violence like this ma nifesto for inciting violence like this manifesto for example does, that is able to be spread in such an easy way. there is a challenge that needs to be taken care of. good to talk to you, thank you for coming in. the attack was live—streamed on social media and police have called on the public not to share the "extremely distressing footage" online. social media platforms have said they are working hard to remove any clips or copies of the video but the home secretary sajid javid has called on them to do more to stop the promotion of violent extremism. our technology correspondent rory cellan jones reports.

it was an attack streamed live on the internet by someone apparently determined to use social media to spread a message of hate. the gunman, identified as brenton tarrant, used facebook to show his every move during the i7—minute attack. and it became a social media event watched by the world. i went and looked today, and i've got to tell you, while he was committing this atrocity, he was being cheered on by hundreds of people on these channels, including new zealanders. that is disgusting. so, let's not think that we're immune to all of this. in an age of a globalised telecommunications, we are no longer in a benign security environment. facebook said it had acted swiftly. "new zealand police alerted us to a video on facebook shortly after the live stream commenced, and we quickly removed both the shooter's facebook and instagram accounts, and the video." other social media firms say they are trying to remove the video. here's youtube promising to work

vigilantly to remove any violent footage. but, a while back, we had a look on youtube — with a simple search, we found that someone else had uploaded the full 16—and—a—half—minute video from that gunman. we reported it and it's now been removed. but more seems certain to pop up. when someone posts a video onto youtube or facebook and it needs to be taken down, those are human moderators behind the scenes who have to make that call, and then have to actually do the work of taking it down. it's not automated yet, it's not artificial intelligence doing it — its human beings. so, there are simply not enough human moderators to keep up with the number of people who are putting these videos online and causing it to go viral. facebook and other social media firms are investing in both people and technology to remove extremist content, but there is mounting pressure from politicians. more needs to be done to identify this kind of content, to take it down quickly, and, once it has been identified,

crucially, for the tech companies to prevent it from being re—uploaded. but, extremist material like that posted by the gunman spreads so rapidly because so many people choose to share it. changing our online behaviour remains the biggest challenge. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones is here. we took about these technology companies taking down material like this. technically, is that easy for them today? it is a huge challenge, them today? it is a huge challenge, the sheer volume of material that is uploaded every minute onto platforms like youtube and facebook. critics will say when it comes to copyright material, if you post a clip from a premier league football game or a copyrighted song, it will go like that. there are systems there where they can watermark videos that are not meant to be there and they never even get there. the trouble is, people can get around that by

changing one frame of the video so it isa changing one frame of the video so it is a huge battle and it does involve investment in a huge number of people. it is people doing it, people watching and taking the stuff down, it is not algorithms that do it automatically? they say they are investing more in artificial intelligence to automatically spot this content but there are limits to that technology. that has not got as far as people sometimes think and it doesn't always spot this. facebook made it clear that it was the police who alerted them. critics are saying, shouldn't you have somehow been able to have assistance to be able to spot somebody going on live with that sort of material? this is raising huge questions aboutjust how much freedom we are going to allow people to distribute material without any kind of checks or bala nces without any kind of checks or balances because anybody can go on facebook and stream live and you don't know until they are doing it what their intentions are. there we re what their intentions are. there were some calls for youtube for

insta nce to were some calls for youtube for instance to block all uploads for 2h hours but of course that would cost them a lot of money. one issue is it being live streamed in the first place and then it is being reposted hours after the event as well? yes because tens of thousands of people had seen that and of the internet and are determined to share it and this comes back to peoples personal response ability. these things go viral because people want to share them and it's quite difficult to work out how to stop them. there is growing pressure for greater regulation and social media companies will see themselves facing big fines and new laws to stop this happening. the westminster leader of the democratic unionists says he's had "good" discussions with cabinet ministers ahead of a third vote on the brexit deal. the dup's support is seen as key to persuading more conservative mps to back the agreement when it goes

before the commons next week. our political correspondent iain watson has the details. tell us more about what has been going on today. the situation is that the dup, although they had ten mps, whatever they decide on brexit could unlock more support from sceptical people who rebelled against their own government in the so—called meaningful though this week. to get those numbers down, the dup are absolutely crucial, therefore it was no surprise that a delegation of them here at westminster met very senior members of the government today including the chief whip of course. also, michael gove and interestingly, the chancellor, philip hammond. dup denied they were asking him for more cash for northern ireland. they said they were talking about customs arrangements but overall, the parties westminster leader, nigel dodds, said they had had a constructive afternoon.

we want to get a deal, we have always been and that frame of mind. we don't want to leave without a deal but a lot will depend on in terms of what the government is able to do in terms of providing those guarantees that are necessary to assuage our concerns. nigel dodds sounding quite positive with what happened today. some specific things they wanted nonetheless, the crucial key to getting this vote across the line will still be as conservative racketeers. what is interesting is that some of them may now be prepared to change their mind to stave of a much longer delay in brexit, much longer postponement of leaving the european union. even the former cabinet minister, esther mcvey, who resigned over brexit, indicated today she might change her mind to try to make sure we leave as soon as possible.

the weather is next. there is better weather on the way. we have to wait until next week. before then, things will go downhill. we will see all the showers we have had across northern areas fading away. there is thicker cloud in the south—west, moving its way in. that will turn to snow over the hills in northern ireland and the hills in northern ireland and the pennines because we are moving into cold air. frost and ice across northern areas and a much milder further south. i don't think this new over the hills in northern ireland and pennines will last long. it will turn to rain but it will state sleet and snow across much of scotla nd state sleet and snow across much of scotland for much of the day. we will find the weather improving in northern ireland but heavy rain is pushing its way into england and wales and ahead of that, we are going to have gusts of 50 or 60 miles an hour. it will not be as windy for scotland and northern

ireland but a cool day with all that wintry weather. we are back to sunshine and showers once again on sunday. this is bbc news. the headlines: 49 people are dead and dozens have been wounded in mass shootings at two mosques in new zealand. the attack, on worshippers attending friday prayers in the city of christchurch — is the deadliest in the nation's history. i was hearing the shooting of the shooting of the shooting. it went on about six minutes or more. the suspect‘s been identified as brenton tarrant, a 28—year—old australian who live—streamed the attack on social media. security experts say it was widely shared. and in other news — dup leaders in westminster say

they've had good discussions with cabinet ministers ahead of a third vote on theresa may's brexit deal. let eyes, i love you. and coming up in the film review — we'll be finding out what mark kermode thought about fisherman's friends — a tale of ten cornish singers who get signed to a major music label, plus the rest of this week's releases. time for the sport with will perry. after finishing runner up six times, cheltenham festival's all—time leading trainer willie mullins win the the gold cup for the first time. al boum photo, ridden by paul townend was the 12—1 winner, finishing ahead of anibale fly and bristol de mai.

we can take you life to the course. finally for trainer william mumblings. that's willie mullings. six times the bridesmaid, he finally has a gold cup to his name. he has had so many empty spaces. it was also a first for the taki. someone who knows exactly what it is like killing a cheltenham gold cup if wa nt killing a cheltenham gold cup if want in 1999. killing a cheltenham gold cup if want ini999. fairto killing a cheltenham gold cup if want in 1999. fair to say this is not the gold cup result we were expecting. no, but i think it is funny that normally when you look to a horse's farm you see reasons why you probably shouldn't impacted. he won a great one at the punch down festival. in monumental error as far

speakjackie is festival. in monumental error as far speak jackie is concerned, festival. in monumental error as far speakjackie is concerned, he went to bypass the defence and thought what am i doing. he missed out on a big price. ithink what am i doing. he missed out on a big price. i think the what am i doing. he missed out on a big price. ithink the more what am i doing. he missed out on a big price. i think the more than made up for it today. not that the owners and trainers stuck with him and now he has gone on to win the biggest and the best, the one that eve ryo ne biggest and the best, the one that everyone wants. you have to realise it doesn't come any bigger than the gold cup. the grand national is the biggest prize in the greatest people chase that everyone else. there's an awful lot of luck involved still at the grand national. whereas if you win the gold cup, you are the best three mile chase her in the land. bittersweet for willie mullings. he had a quarter of the field, only 16 in the race. one of them invitation—only, sadly, was fatally injured. this was the third fatality of this festival and we are not quite finished yet. less than last year, there were seven last year. still not good. can be bha and horsemen and jockeys and trainers do more to stop the fatal accidents? we

all realise we have a responsibility to the greater public. but we also have a responsibility to try and explain to people that these horses are bread to race. this is what they are bread to race. this is what they are bred to do. we spend our lives looking after them. these horses get treated like kings and queens. it is horrible when one of them loses their life doing a sport that we love doing. sometimes it doesn't seem fair. but we have to realise that they are bread to race. it is a bitter pill to swallow and i feel desperately sorry for willie mullings. you see celebrating winning a gold cup which has eluded him in the past, but it will be a very lonely trip back this evening with no invitation only. as you say, the sources are bred to race in this tough sport. it has been a wonderful week of your coverage. also radio five live. presenting these for the

final time on it radio five live as well. for now, it is back to you. thank you. mixed emotions for him. there'll be at least one premier league team in the last four of the champions league this season after tottenham were drawn against manchester city in an all—english quarterfinal. manchester united face barcelona, liverpool take on porto. and in the last eight of the europa league. arsenal face a tough tie against napoli, chelsea play slavia prague. it's the first time in 48 years that england has had six quarterfinalists in major european competitions. i'll be back with more on those stories at 5:30. thank you. let's get more on our maintenance today. at least 49 people have died in targeted gun attacks at two new zealand mosques.

dozens more were seriously injured in the shootings in the city of christchurch. the authorities have called it terrorist attack. here's a recap of how the events unfolded. at 1:40pm local time, police responded to reports of shots being fired in central christ church. people were urged to stay indoors and to report any suspicious behaviour. schools in the city where later put into lockdown. at 2:30pm, police described an "active shooter" situation. later — at lipm, new zealand police commissioner mike bush said there had been "multiple fatalities" at two locations — both mosques in christchurch. police confirmed one person had been arrested, but warned others may be involved. mosques across new zealand were advised to close their doors. new zealand's prime minister jacinda ardern called it "one of new zealand's darkest days". at 5:30, police said that three men and one woman had been taken into custody.

a short time later, australian prime minister scott morrison confirmed one of the people arrested was an australian citizen. at 7:30, prime minister ardern confirmed that a0 people had died and more than 20 were seriously injured. by 9pm, the death toll had climbed to 49. it was later confirmed a 28—year—old man had been charged with murder. a senior member of the mosque was in the building at the time of the shooting — he has described the upsetting scenes he saw. i was inside the mosque. i was in the side room and the imam had started the sermon, so everybody was settled and it was very peaceful. as it usually is when the imam starts talking, everyone stays quiet and it is a pin—drop silence. but then, suddenly,

the shooting started. it started on the main room, because the shooter must have come through the hallway. i was in the side room, so i did not see he was shooting, but i saw that some people were running out through my room, where i was in. and also, some people had blood on their body and some people were limping. at that moment, i realised it was really serious. a couple of people, they're saying to me, you have to get out now. so 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 this shooting. it went on about six

minutes or more. i could hear screaming and crying and i saw some people drop dead. some people are running away, i was in the wheelchair and i couldn't go anywhere, and also i did not want to, because i was afraid what was going to happen to the ladies, what was going to happen to my wife. so i stayed there, but luckily, shooter, he stayed inside the mosque and he did not come in the back, otherwise he could have got me. members of the bangladesh cricket team were about to enter the mosque for prayers when the shooting happened, but all are safe. they were in christchurch for a test match. let's speak now to mohammad isam — a correspondent for espn cric info which is a sports news website exclusively for cricket.

he was travelling with the bangladesh cricket team. thank you for being with us. i know it is very early in the morning where you are. tell us what happened. the bangladesh cricket tea m happened. the bangladesh cricket team was preparing for the test match in christ church, when there was a bit of rain around on the day and they decided to make the usual friday trip to the mosque to pray. about 17 of them wrote at the team bus. they headed out of the oval and went there for about a kilometre. i got a call from one of the leading members telling me they are in trouble. about five — six minutes after they had left the stadium, i was at the parking lotjust after the event. we had just finished the press co nfe re nce the event. we had just finished the press conference with the captain. i honestly didn't believe him. i

couldn't believe what he was saying. the second call from him, he was extremely agitated. i started to run, someone gave me a list along with two otherjournalists. we had been foolish to get into that crime scene. it was still active. it had in factjust scene. it was still active. it had in fact just started. i saw scene. it was still active. it had in factjust started. i saw one dead body on my right. it was quite a traumatic thing to see. then i saw people running towards me, going somewhere crying. i spotted the team bus. when i was trying to get near iti bus. when i was trying to get near it i could see all of them jump out of the bus coming out of the back door. to the gate in the middle. they started to run and they told me don't go, let'sjust they started to run and they told me don't go, let's just get the hell out of here. he ran to the park where the cricket ground is located. it isa where the cricket ground is located. it is a pretty long walk. about one km to hagley park. it was so open

and there was security around but the rest of the city still was not aware. there were joggers going through that route, and they had lea ked through that route, and they had leaked to be told not to go. about 15 minutes rated week i'll reach the cricket ground, and we are all sent away into the pavilions. and the players are obviously very shocked. if there had beenjust players are obviously very shocked. if there had been just three or four minutes earlier, they would have beenin minutes earlier, they would have been in the mosque. they could well have been targets for the shooting. they had been sending out tweets, talking about their shock. we can see one of them there now. so what happens now and but if the mood of the team ? happens now and but if the mood of the team? it was, for couple of hours later and the team was taking

to the motel pretty quickly. i went to the motel pretty quickly. i went to bt motel, the manager held a press co nfe re nce . to bt motel, the manager held a press conference. i saw the players there. they were shell—shocked. i think when they went back to the hotel, they got a clear picture of what was happening in christ church on the day. with every news update, they were shocked. the death count going up and the fact that bangladesh citizens were also held, because that particular mosque it was quite popular with bangladeshis. the team is leaving in about six hours. iam the team is leaving in about six hours. i am on the same flight back home. around midday on saturday, we will be. thank you so much for talking to us after that really shocking experience. mohammad isam there, bangladesh corresponded. for espn creek info. thank you for your time. now on bbc news a look ahead to sportsday at 6:30 tonight.