Hyderabad Techie Missing After New Zealand Mosque Shootings Was Killed in Attack, Says Family

Hyderabad: A man from Hyderabad was killed in the horrific terror attack on two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch on Friday, his family said here on Saturday.

Software engineer Farhaj Ahsan, 31, who was reported missing by the authorities after the incident, was among 49 killed in the indiscriminate firing by a gunman.

"We have received information a short while ago that my brother was martyred in the attack," Kashif Ahsan, elder brother of Farhaj told IANS.

Ahsan's father Mohammed Sayeeduddin, who was hoping to hear some good news about his son, was inconsolable.

A pall of gloom descended on the family's house in Nadeem Colony of Toli Chowki area after the family received the shocking news. Relatives and friends were pouring in to console the family.

Authorities in Christchurch informed Ahsan's wife and her uncle, who rushed from Australia, about his death. They were at a hospital in Christchurch, waiting for some information since morning.

Ahsan, a software engineer, was at Al Noor mosque for Friday prayers when the terrorist opened indiscriminate fire on worshippers.

A father of two, he used to regularly offer Friday prayers at Al Noor mosque as he lived in a nearby neighbourhood.

Like every day, Sayeeduddin rang up his son, unaware of what was going on at the mosque. "We speak to him over phone every day around afternoon and today being Friday, I rang him around 8 a.m. but he did not respond," he had told IANS.

He then called his daughter-in-law, who informed him that there was an attack at the mosque and she also tried to reach Ahsan over his mobile phone.

She later went to hospital with a picture of her husband and after a long wait, the authorities told her that he is among 19 people missing.

Ahsan, who did his MS from Auckland University, worked for various companies and had recently completely a project for a firm in Christchurch.

Meanwhile, another man from Hyderabad who was injured in the terror attack was recovering.

Ahmed Iqbal Jehangir, who was at the same mosque, sustained bullet injuries in his chest and shoulder.

"Alhamdulillah (grateful to Allah). He is out of danger and recovering," his brother Mohammed Khursheed Jehangir told IANS here on Saturday.

According to information received by Khursheed, a surgery was performed on Ahmed at a hospital in Christchurch to remove a bullet.

Ahmed, settled in New Zealand for 15 years, runs a Hyderabadi food restaurant near Al Noor mosque. His wife and children who stay in the same neighbourhood were safe.

Khursheed plans to leave for New Zealand to see his brother.