Survivor of N.Zealand attack: Bullets missed me twice

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand

Mohammed Abdi Jemal Afi, a survivor of last week’s terror attacks on two mosques in New Zealand, said the terrorist tried to shoot him twice but somehow he was not hit.

Afi, a 60-year-old survivor of the attacks, told Anadolu Agency that he got frighteningly close to the terrorist when he was about to enter Al-Noor Mosque in Christchurch, one of the two mosques where the gunman shot and killed 50 Muslims.

"The Friday sermon was about to start, and at the mosque entrance a Somali woman spoke to me in our language saying: 'Brother Jamal, pay attention to the man behind you who’s about to shoot you'," he recalled.

Afi said the terrorist was recording what he was doing with a camera on his helmet, adding that the first bullet grazed his head and the second missed him when he fell to the ground.

"There was a single step between us. There was only one step between us. He waited for a few seconds. He wasn't shooting, he wasn't talking, and he was just looking at my face.

“Then he walks away two steps, and I started running towards the mosque door. He was dressed like a military man. And he said, 'You can’t enter the mosque, get out of here.' and started shooting at me," he added.

'People came to pray, not to fight'

Afi also underlined that he saw the terrorist killing an Afghan man from the congregation who was greeting him. Afi also witnessed multiple women and men getting shot in the chest and head, he said.

After escaping the attack, Afi called the police and ambulance, and they arrived within about 18-20 minutes, he said.

Due to his fall, Afi had both of his knees broken, and doctors told him that he needs surgery, but he said he postponed the treatment until the funerals of all the victims are done.

"All the people were unarmed, empty-handed, just here to pray, not to fight.

“God willing, our martyrs will enter paradise, they were in the mosque to worship. They were listening to the sermon. They will go to heaven," he said.

At least 50 Muslims were killed when a gunman opened fire on worshipers during weekly Friday prayers at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand in a cold-blooded shooting -- another sign of rising Islamophobia.

Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, is being charged over the massacre.

* Writing by Munira Abdelmenan Awel