Three men and one woman are in custody following terrorist attacks at two Christchurch mosques, Police Commissioner Mike Bush has said as he revealed that IEDs were also used by the attackers.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush told media a “number of” the explosive devices were attached to vehicles.
Mr Bush said a number of vehicles that were stopped by police had IEDs (improvised explosive devices) attached to them.
"They’ve been made safe by the Defence Force but that does go to the seriousness of this situation," Commissioner Bush said.
Commissioner Bush confirmed the attacks were at a mosque at Deans Ave near Hagley Oval and another mosque at Linwood Ave, with both areas still locked down.
Police would not assume there were not others involved but he did not have information about further attackers, Commissioner Bush said.
The four in custody were arrested by local police with Commissioner Bush praising the bravery of officers.
"There’s been some absolute acts of bravery, I’m hugely proud of our police staff the way they responded to this," he said.
"Let’s not presume the danger has gone."
Police were aware of social media footage of one of the attacks, Commissioner Bush said.
"I have seen social media footage, it is very disturbing, it shouldn’t be in the public domain and we’re doing everything we can to remove it."
Commissioner Bush said police were saturating both areas, so people could get home safely once the lockdown was lifted.
Police were also setting up a facility, so people could get more information.
"They will be worried about their loved ones, we don’t have the identities of those people who have died as yet because those locations are still in locked down."
"That is an absolute priority, our people are doing that at the moment."
SHARE ME