New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today ordered an independent judicial inquiry into whether police and intelligence services could have prevented the Christchurch mosque attacks on March 15.<br />''  <br />''Ardern said a royal commission — the most powerful judicial probe available under New Zealand law — was needed to find out how a single gunman was able to kill 50 people in an attack that shocked the world.<br />'' <br />''<span style="color: #222222;">New Zealand's spy agencies have faced criticism in the wake of the attack for concentrating on the threat from Islamic extremism. </span><br />