49 killed as gunmen start shooting in two mosques in NZ

At least 49 people have been killed and 20 seriously injured after gunmen opened fire in two mosques in New Zealand on Friday, a coordinated and unprecedented attack that has shocked the usually peaceful nation.

The massacre by at least one gunman during Friday prayers in the city of Christchurch is the country’s worst ever mass shooting and was condemned throughout Asia.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the incident a terrorist attack in a Friday press conference, saying the suspects held "extremist views" that have no place in New Zealand or the world.

“We believe that 49 people have lost their lives in this act of extreme violence,” Ardern said.

“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack.”

Ardern said New Zealand had been placed on its highest security threat level. She said four people in police custody held extremist views but had not been on any police watchlists.

Video footage widely circulated on social media, apparently taken by a gunman and posted online live as the attack unfolded, showed him driving to one mosque, entering it and shooting randomly at people inside.

Ardern said 30 people were killed at the Al Noor mosque, the city’s main mosque, and another 10 at a mosque in the suburb of Linwood.

“This is one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” she said.

New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Mike Bush said four people - three men and a woman - had been taken into custody.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said one of the men in custody was Australian.

Police said IEDs, improvised explosive devices, were found with a vehicle they stopped.

The online video footage, which appeared to have been captured on a camera strapped to the gunman’s head, showed red petrol canisters in the back of his car, along with weapons.

All mosques in New Zealand had been asked to shut their doors, police said.