49 dead in N.Zealand attacks, almost as many injured

By Vakkas Dogantekin and Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) - The death toll from Friday’s terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand stands at 49, according to hospital officials, but with 12 critically injured, there is a possibility that could rise.

Forty-two people were injured in the coordinated attacks, Karalyn van Deursen, executive communications director at Christchurch Hospital, told Anadolu Agency, speaking early Saturday local time.

The dead include a 5-year-old girl and her father, who were both chased by a gunman and shot, local Radio New Zealand reported.

Accounts of the massacre, which was livestreamed on social media, suggested a systematic, methodical approach by the gunmen in killing dozens of peaceful worshippers gathered at two mosques on Friday, Muslims’ holy day.

The gunmen opened fire on worshippers during Friday prayers at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in and around Christchurch, New Zealand’s third-largest city.

Four suspects -- three men and one woman -- have been detained so far in connection with the massacres.