New Zealand police kill terrorist after stabbings

Police in Auckland opened fire on the knife-wielding extremist after he stabbed six people inside a supermarket on Friday. Authorities said responders took the six injured people, including three in critical condition, to hospitals around the city. The stabbing is the country’s first terror attack since a gunman killed 51 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019.

Who was the suspect? New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern identified him as a Sri Lankan inspired by the Islamic State group. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said surveillance teams and a technical team had been monitoring the suspect since 2016 and responded within 60 seconds from when he grabbed the knife from the store and started to stab people. “We know from our extensive monitoring that he was acting alone,” he said.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s Globe Trot report on the Christchurch shooting.