Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has given her first interview to a foreign news outlet following the Christchurch terror attack, speaking to Qatar-based Al Jazeera.
Ardern told the network New Zealanders are upset the attack took place while Muslim people were praying.
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"Here was a group of New Zealanders who had gathered for a place of peaceful worship and who should have been able to safely worship… Them and their families lives have been devastated by the acts of this terrorist."
Fifty people were killed when a gunman opened fire during Friday prayers in the Deans Ave and Linwood Ave mosques in Christchurch on March 15.
Al Jazeera journalist Zein Tawfik told The AM Show he used the interview as a chance to share condolences.
"That was the first thing I did when I interviewed the Prime Minister yesterday, she gave me the first interview... since the attacks.
"So I started with offering our condolences from Al Jazeera… from the viewers, from the region."
The Prime Minister told Tawfik New Zealand's gun laws need to change, and some of the changes will be announced in the next week.
Ardern announced on Saturday the Government would change the law, and Cabinet discussed possible changes on Monday.
Tawfik said such an attack in New Zealand was unexpected and has left the Muslim community shocked.
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"Nobody ever expected to be attacked in a mosque during prayers in a peaceful and nice country like yours.
"There are some tensions about the bodies and the burial, because you know the tradition is to bury the bodies as soon as possible. There are no time limits for it, but the earlier the better."
Thirty bodies have been returned to the families so far.
Newshub.
