Terrorist attack in New Zealand: Extremist stabs six people at a supermarket

Police in New Zealand has shot dead a "violent extremist" after he stabbed and injured at least six people in a supermarket in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the incident was a "terrorist attack" carried out by a Sri Lankan citizen who was under police surveillance.

The man, who was not identified, was inspired by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. As per PM Ardern, Police killed the man within 60 seconds of the attack on Friday.

"What happened today is despicable; it was hateful and wrong," Prime Minister Ardern said at a news conference.

She said the attack was carried out by a particular person and not faith. PM added that she was "completely shocked" to hear about the attack.

Mayor Phil Goff stated that medical professionals are doing everything in their hands to save the injured. He said everybody is terrified of what happened, and fortunately, justice came pretty quickly for the perpetrator.

The crime took occurred at the Countdown Supermarket in LynnMall in New Lynn District on Friday afternoon when the attacker took a large knife from a display case in the shop and started to stab people. The police surveillance teams were following all the time.

A witness told News Outlet Stuff NZ that the supermarket was a scene of madness, and pictures shared on social show people fleeing before the sound of gunshots can be heard.

"[People were] going out, confused, just yelling, yelling, scared," the witness said, adding that he saw an elderly man on the floor with a wound.

The man, whose identity could not be revealed due to court repression orders, arrived in New Zealand in October 2011. He became a person of a national security interest in 2016.

He was under watchful eye and heavy surveillance due to concerns about his ideology. He was known by many agencies and was also on a terror watch list. People raised questions on why no action was taken against him before six people were injured - especially since he was under surveillance.

"The reality is that if you are monitoring someone on a 24/7 basis, it is not possible to always be directly with them. The staff intervened as quickly as they could, and they stopped a further injury and what a frightening was the situation, "said Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.

He added that the attacker was very surveillance conscious and that teams had to keep a distance to be effective.