New Zealand to Hold Inquiry Into Roles of Spies and Guns in Mosque Attacks
NO STONE UNTURNED
New Zealand will launch a high-level inquiry into the terror attacks that killed 50 people at two Christchurch mosques to look at the roles that guns, social media, and spy agencies played ahead of the shootings. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the launch of a Royal Commission of Inquiry, the country’s highest form of investigation. “While New Zealanders and Muslim communities around the world are both grieving and showing compassion for one another, they are also quite rightly asking questions on how this terror attack was able to happen here,” Ardern said. “In short, the inquiry will look at what could have or should have been done to prevent the attack... It will inquire into the individual and his activities before the terrorist attack, including, of course, a look at agencies.” Ardern confirmed the inquiry will look at what the country’s domestic spy agency, the Security Intelligence Service, and its international counterpart, the Government Communications Security Bureau, did ahead of the attack. The country’s police and customs agencies will also be probed.