RIP!! SEE FACES AND PROFILE OF ALL 50 PEOPLE KILLED IN NEW ZEALAND TERROR ATTACK

Fifty people are confirmed to have died in Friday’s attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Most of them had moved to New Zealand to study or work, and build a better life for themselves and their families. Some were refugees, who thought they had found safety.

They were grandparents, spouses and friends. The youngest was three.

Here are their names, as their deaths are confirmed by officials and relatives;

Mucad Ibrahim, 3

Mucad is the youngest victim identified. He was visiting the place of worship with his brother, Abdi, and their father, both of whom survived the attack.

 

Atta Elayyan, 33

Atta Elayyan, the goalkeeper for New Zealand’s futsal (a form of five-a-side football) team, was one of those killed during the attacks

Daoud Nadi, 71

Daoud Nadi was the first of the victims to be identified. He was born in Afghanistan, but moved his family to New Zealand in the 1980s to escape the Soviet invasion.

Sayyad Milne, 14

Sayyad Milne wanted to be a footballer when he grew up.

Naeem Rashid, 50

Naeem Rashid was originally from Abbottabad in Pakistan. He was a teacher in Christchurch.

 

Talha Rashid, 21

Talha was Naeem Rashid’s oldest son. He was 11 when the family moved to New Zealand.

 

Zeeshan Raza, Ghulam Husain, Karam Bibi

Zeeshan Raza, 38, was the only son of Ghulam Husain and Karam Bibi.

They went with their son to his regular mosque on Friday. All three were killed and will be buried in New Zealand.

 

Haroon Mehmood, 40

Mr Mehmood moved to New Zealand nearly five years ago from Pakistan to study for a PhD in biochemistry. He was accompanied by his wife and two children.

Despite the tragedy, close relatives told BBC Urdu they hoped more Pakistanis would travel abroad for education – to counter negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims in the West.

Syed Jahandad Ali

Mr Ali’s death was confirmed by Pakistan’s foreign ministry. He was described by colleagues at IT company Intergen as “a kind and gentle man” who was much-loved.

He is survived by his wife, Amna, and three young children.

Syed Areeb Ahmed

Mr Ahmed, a Pakistani national, worked at accounting firm PwC New Zealand. “His smile, warmth, dedication, respect and humour will be deeply missed,” colleagues said on a fundraising page.

Sohail Shadid

The Pakistani engineer moved to New Zealand in 2017 with his family. His wife Asma told news website Stuff that he was a “very kind-hearted, smart and loving person”, adding: “His daughters were his life.”

Farhaj Ahsan, 30

Farhaj Ahsan moved to New Zealand from Hyderabad in India 10 years ago and worked as an electrical engineer.

He was married with two young children: a three-year-old daughter and six-month-old son.

Hosne Ahmed, 44

 

Zakaria Bhuiyan

Mr Bhuiyan has not been seen since the attack.

According to the Indian Social and Cultural Club, Mr Bhuiyan was a construction worker. He had helped to rebuild Christchurch after the devastating earthquake in 2011.

He had no immediate family in New Zealand, but over the weekend his friends held a protest, asking why it was taking so long to find or identify him.

“Our brother is missing, give us some information at least,” read one sign.

Mozammel Haque

Mr Haque had been in Christchurch for about two years as a dental student, and was a regular at the mosque.

His close friend and housemate Jahirul Islam told Radio New Zealand that his family were desperate for his body to be returned home to Bangladesh.

“They lost their worlds. So did I,” he said.

Omar Faruk, 36

The Bangladeshi national was working as a welder in New Zealand. His wife, Sanjida Zaman Neha, had stayed in Bangladesh and is pregnant.

She told BBC Bengali he was excited about becoming a father, and hoped to bring his new family to New Zealand.

Omar usually worked on Fridays and “always felt sorry he can’t attend the Friday prayers”, she said. But last Friday he called her to say was let off work early because it was raining.

“He said to his friends, ‘I haven’t attended the Friday prayer for a long time. I am going to attend the prayer today’. Then he drove to the mosque.

“I believe my husband is in Jannat [heaven], I accept that. But he had to go through a lot of pain when he died, that is unbearable to me.”

Abdus Samad, 66

A Bangladeshi by birth, he lectured at Christchurch’s Lincoln University (where he studied for a PhD in the 1980s) and sometimes led prayers at the Al Noor mosque.

He lived in New Zealand with his wife and two sons, and had previously taught at agricultural universities in Bangladesh.

“When I came to know about the attacks in the Christchurch mosques, I just thought of him. He was a very pious man, he used to conduct prayers often,” a friend and colleague, Prof Mohammad Abdul Wahab, told BBC Bengali.

“I thought about whether he was OK or not. I talked to my family members about him. On that day, my nephew showed me the TV news and my fears came true.”

Hafiz Musa Vali Patel, 52

Hafiz was critically injured in the blast and was rushed to hospital, where he died. His family confirmed his death to BBC Gujarati.

Khaled Mustafa

 

The group Syrian Solidarity New Zealand says Khaled Mustafa was killed at the Al Noor mosque.

Mr Mustafa was a refugee from the war in Syria. He had moved with his family to New Zealand only last year, considering it a safe haven, said the group.

Hamza Mustafa, 16

Hamza was Mr Mustafa’s son, also a refugee. He was 16. He was shot as he prayed alongside his father. Syrian Solidarity New Zealand confirmed his death on Saturday.

Hamza was one of two students at Cashmere High School killed. Head teacher Mark Wilson described him as compassionate, and a great student.

“Despite not being here very long, he had made a lot of friends,” Mr Wilson told Newshub.

Hamza’s younger brother, Zaid, remains in hospital.

 

Linda Armstrong, 65

Linda was New Zealand-born, growing up in Auckland. She had moved to Christchurch to be closer to her family.

She converted to Islam in her 50s and, according to her nephew, was adored by the community at the Al Noor mosque.

Kyron Gosse told the New Zealand Herald she had a “childlike innocence” and “befriended many travellers, immigrants and refugees opening her home, her heart and her kitchen”.

“She was always friends with a lot of underdogs.”

Amjad Hamid, 57

The doctor has not been seen since the attack at the mosque where he prayed every Friday. His family told New Zealand media they had checked the hospital and anywhere else they could think of, but had not found him. They believe he is dead.

“It’s terrible… we were hoping to find a better future for us and for the children we were planning to have,” his wife, Hahan, told the New Zealand Herald. She described him as “a very kind man”.

The Palestinian couple moved to New Zealand 23 years ago, and had two sons. Mr Hamid specialised in cardiorespiratory illnesses for the Canterbury District Health Board.

“This is meant to be a safe country. New Zealand is changing forever,” his son, Husam Hamid, said.

Matiullah Safi, 55

Matiullah (or Mathullah) Safi had been living in New Zealand for about nine years, working in various jobs.

He and his wife had seven children – six sons and a daughter.