The knife attacker who stabbed at least five people at a West Auckland supermarket before being shot dead on Friday has been identified.

A High Court order required for the man’s name to be kept lapsed, with the attacker’s name now no longer under suppression.

He has been identified as 32-year-old Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen.

What is known about Samsudeen?

Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen is Sri Lankan refugee who arrived in New Zealand in October 2011.

A Tamil Musilm born in Sri Lanka, Samsudeen was granted refugee status two years after coming to the country and gained his residency visa.

Initially, Samsudeen arrived onshore with a student visa.

Before being granted refugee status, Kiwi officials investigated his case that led to revelations about his political background back home in Sri Lanka.

The now 32-year-old had then in 2013 claimed that he faced serious harm in his native land and it was accepted by NZ authorities that he had been attacked and mistreated in the past.

A psychologist’s assessment of Samsudeen’s mental health described him as a “highly distressed and damaged young man,” according to the NZ Herald.

However, in May 2018, the Refugee Status Branch sought to cancel his refugee status and served him with a notice. Him losing refugee status that year would have resulted in him being deported back to Sri Lanka.

More than a month later the High Court in Auckland granted him name suppression in publications to ensure his safety after deportation.

Since, Samsudeen had raised an appeal against the authorities’ intention to deport him, he had been awaiting a hearing up until his death.The suppression order on his name lifted after his death.

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Samsudeen first caught NZ police’s eye in 2016 after he posted images of graphic acts of war violence on his Facebook account, with comments supporting the Islamic State bombing attacks in Brussels on March 22.

After initially giving him a warning, that made him aware of their interest and led him to setting up several different Facebook accounts, the officers from NSI (National Security Investigations) monitored his activity online. 

The authorities found anti-western and violent imagery on his Facebook account.

However, Samsudeen was only being watched closely after he told a fellow worshipper at a mosque about his plans to join Isis in Syria and his intentions on carrying out a “lone wolf” style knife attack in New Zealand if he was stopped from leaving.

In a search conducted at his apartment, the police found videos and songs in support of Isis extremism and imagery of sadistic violence, in addition to images of him posing with weapons.

On Friday, the New Zealand police shot and killed him for stabbing and injuring six shoppers.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called it an act of terror and said that she was sorry that it happened.

More details of the incident and on Samsudeen are expected on Sunday.