News of New Zealand
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • All Releases
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • All Releases
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

30/4/2019

NZ slams Sri Lanka-Christchurch link claim

Picture
New Zealand's deputy prime minister has criticised suggestions Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings were retaliation for the Christchurch mosque shootings, saying his country is being "misused".

Sri Lanka's junior minister for defence, Ruwan Wijewardene, last week said early investigations had revealed the bombing of churches and hotels that killed 253 people had been in revenge for shootings at two New Zealand mosques on March 15, which killed 50.

But New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Tuesday reiterated his government had seen no evidence of a link.

He said expert advice suggested the Sri Lankan bombings would have been planned from well before the Christchurch terror attack.

"It's a slightly cheap shot, I suppose, to try to explain it away. Let's see the evidence," Peters told Sky News.

"Sometimes it pays to ... get the facts first before you beat your lips with an opinion."

Peters said it was a "fair suspicion" the claim had been made to deflect away from intelligence failings in Sri Lanka.
"We're not going to stand here and have our country misused," Peters said.

While Islamic State has claimed responsibility, Sri Lankan police have in recent days raided the headquarters of a hardline Islamist group, the National Thawheedh Jamaath, founded by the suspected ringleader of the bombings.

The authorities believe Zahran Hashim masterminded and was one of the nine suicide bombers in the attacks.
​
More than 100 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, have been detained for questioning over the bombings.

26/4/2019

Gallipoli dawn service 'rejects terrorism'

Picture
The Anzac Day service at Gallipoli has turned into a symbolic "rejection of extremism and terrorism", as Prime Minister Scott Morrison played down fears a suspected Islamic State terrorist was planning an attack.

The traditional dawn service went ahead under already tight security measures, after a man believed to be planning a terror attack was arrested three hours from the Gallipoli peninsula.

New Zealand's parliamentary speaker Trevor Mallard said the experiences shared by Australians and Kiwis when they landed at Gallipoli in 1915 have come to symbolise much about the nations' fundamental values.

"We do not gather here to mark a victory or defeat, but to pay tribute to the valour, the service and sacrifice of all those who fought here," Mr Mallard told the hundreds gathered at the Gallipoli Campaign Historical Site.

"Anzac Cove continues to have a special place in the hearts of all of us.

"And it informs our rejection of extremism and of terrorism, whether it occurs in Turkey, in Australia, in New Zealand or in Sri Lanka."

Speaking in Australia before the Gallipoli service began, Mr Morrison said reports received by the government about any link between the arrest and the Gallipoli service were inconclusive.

"This is more of a routine thing that we've seen happen with Turkish authorities and we could not say at all that there is any link between that arrest and any planned event at Gallipoli," Mr Morrison told reporters in Townsville.

Turkey banned its citizens from attending the dawn service due to heightened security fears, although Australia's Veterans' Affair Minister Darren Chester said such a move was not unprecedented.

This year's Anzac service came a month after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan faced criticism in Australia and NZ for comments he made after an Australian gunman killed 50 people at two Christchurch mosques.

Mr Mallard said the Gallipoli ceremony and other Anzac services around the world reaffirmed the special ties between Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.

Australia's Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell said the three countries were forever connected by their shared history at Gallipoli.

General Campbell said Australian soldiers were confronted with the realities of war at Gallipoli.

"The story of Gallipoli left an indelible mark in our collective history," he said on the 104th anniversary of Anzac forces landing there.
​
"It is one of our nations' foundational stories, one that means a great deal to a great many people."

<<Previous

    Archives

    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019

    Categories

    All Foreign Affairs Health Politics Sports Weather

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.