Malaysian Teen among 50 People Killed in New Zealand Attack, Authorities Say

A 17-year-old Malaysian boy was among the 50 people killed in last Friday’s gun attacks at two mosques in New Zealand’s second largest city, the Malaysian foreign ministry said Thursday.

The confirmation came days after Bangladeshi and Indonesian authorities had identified the victims of New Zealand’s worst mass shooting. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had labeled the attack in Christchurch as terrorism carried out by a suspected Australian white supremacist.

“With deep sorrow and with consent from the family, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to confirm that Muhammad Haziq bin Mohd Tarmizi, 17, was among the 50 victims who lost their lives in the tragic shooting incident in Christchurch,” the ministry said in a statement.

Muhammad Haziq’s father, Mohd Tarmizi Shuib, as well as two other Malaysians – Muhammad Nazril Hisham Omar and Rahimi Ahmad – were wounded in the shootings, the statement added.

The confirmation on Muhammad Haziq’s death came three days after Bangladesh identified its five citizens who were killed in the shootings: Mojammel Hoq, 30, Mohammed Omar Faruk, 35, Muhammed Abdusi Samad, 66, Zakaria Bhuiya, 36 and Hosne Ara, 42. Three Bangladeshis were wounded and one was still missing, authorities said.

On Saturday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi confirmed that Lilik Abdul Hamid, a 50-year-old aircraft engineer for Air New Zealand who was previously thought to be missing, was among the fatalities. She said two other Indonesians remain hospitalized but in stable condition.

New Zealand police said most of victims were immigrants or refugees from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

All of the dead have been identified, New Zealand police said Thursday. Twenty-eight of the 50 people who were wounded remain in hospital, including six in intensive care, authorities said.

In the aftermath of the shootings, Adern announced that New Zealand would ban military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles under new gun laws.

“We are announcing action today on behalf of all New Zealanders to strengthen our gun laws and make our country a safer place,” Ardern told a news conference. “All semi-automatic weapons used during the terrorist attack on Friday 15 March will be banned.”

Australian Brenton Tarrant, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, has been initially charged with one murder and was expected to face further charges. But police acknowledged on Thursday that the person named on the charged sheet as the murdered victim is actually alive.

The error would not affect the case, authorities said.

The gunman, armed with a shotgun and semi-automatic rifles, including an AR-15, allegedly livestreamed his attack on social media.

New Zealand police estimated in 2016 that there were 1.2 million legal firearms owned by civilians – around one for every four people in the country where police officers rarely carried guns. As of June 2018, there were 246,952 active firearms licenses, officials said.

Before Friday’s attack, New Zealand's worst mass shooting was in 1990 in the small seaside town of Aramoana on the South Island, in which 13 people were killed following a dispute with a neighbor, authorities said.