New Zealand attacker identified; Lankan police on trail of his contacts View(s):The Sri Lankan national shot dead inside a shopping mall in Auckland on Friday after he attacked several locals has been identified as Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen, a 32-year-old from the Eastern town of Kattankudy. Sri Lankan Police yesterday launched an investigation into the man’s family and have already traced his mother. Samsudeen had applied for refugee status soon after arriving in New Zealand on a student visa in October 2011. He was not known to have held extremist views at the time he arrived in New Zealand in 2011, according to New Zealand authorities. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry stated Sri Lanka had sought more details from New Zealand authorities over reports that the attack had been carried out by a Sri Lankan national.

Source: Sunday Times September 05, 2021 00:45 UTC