Terrorist ideology blamed in fatal Canada attack
DEVELOPMENTS
• The FBI said it was investigating the possibility that three teenage girls from the Denver area tried to travel to Syria to join Islamic State extremists. An FBI spokeswoman said agents helped bring the girls back to Denver after stopping them in Germany.
• An Australian teenage runaway reportedly appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video, warning that the movement won’t stop fighting until the extremists’ notorious black flag is flying above every nation. The speaker in the video, believed to be 17-year-old Abdullah Elmir of Sydney, is dressed in military garb and holding a rifle as he addresses the camera while surrounded by dozens of other jihadists.
— From news services
The suspect was shot dead by police after a chase in the Quebec city of Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu. A second soldier suffered minor injuries in Monday’s attack.
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said the attack “clearly linked to terrorist ideology.” Quebec Police spokesman Guy Lapointe said the act was deliberate and that one of the two soldiers was in uniform. Lapointe said there were no other suspects at this time.
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case identified the suspect as Martin Couture-Rouleau, 25.
The suspect was known to authorities and recently had his passport seized, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said. However, it was not known whether he had any ties to Islamic militant groups.
“He was part of our investigative efforts to try and identify those people who might commit a criminal act travelling abroad for terrorist purposes,” Paulson said.
There was no answer Tuesday at Couture-Rouleau’s home in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu onTuesday.
Neighbor Daniel Fortin said he had known Couture-Rouleau, who lived with his father, since he was a child. Over the past year or so, Fortin said, Couture-Rouleau grew out his beard and began wearing loose-fitting Muslim clothing. Couture-Roleau’s father was worried as his son became increasingly radicalized and “tried everything” to help him, Fortin said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family members, his friends and his colleagues,” Harper said. “This was a despicable act of violence that strikes against not just this soldier and his colleagues but frankly against our very values as a civilized democracy.”
Lapointe said the man was brandishing a knife when he emerged from the vehicle and police opened fire.
The case is similar to one in London last year in which an al-Qaida-inspired extremist and another man ran over an off-duty soldier with a car before hacking him to death.
The Islamic State group has urged supporters to carry out attacks against Western countries, including Canada, that are participating in the U.S.-led coalition fighting the militants who have taken over large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf condemned the attack.
