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Terrorists Attack Canadian Parliament
22 October 2014
(EIRNS)— Today, in the earlier part of the morning, in Ottawa, the Canadian Parliament came under attack by a gunman who left one soldier, who was guarding the War Memorial nearby, dead. The gunman was killed inside the Parliament where the Canadian parliamentarians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, had asembled for a caucus. Although it is not clear how many shots were fired inside the Parliament by the gunman security officials, one Parliament member, Tony Clement, tweeted that at least 30 shots were fired. The Canadian authorities provided FBI agents with the name of the dead Parliament assailant, identified by law enforcement officials as Canadian-born Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, born in 1982. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau had a criminal record in Quebec dating back 10 years on drug-related offenses, and that he had lived in Montreal. Senior American law enforcement officials said Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau had been a convert to Islam, and that he had changed his birth name, which was originally Michael Joseph Hall. But much about the shooters background and possible motivations remained unclear, the New York Times reports. Today’s incident occurred two days after the police had gunned down Martin Couture-Rouleau, 25, in his home town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 30 minutes south of Montreal. Couture-Rouleau was involved in a possible automotive terrorist attack against two unidentified soldiers, one of whom is dead. At the time, the Prime Minister’s Office had said the dead suspect, identified as Martin Couture-Rouleau, had become radicalized, and Canadian authorities took his passport. Following this morning’s incident, public buildings near Parliament, including Ottawa City Hall, the University of Ottawa, and primary schools, were locked down. The Rideau Centre Mall, a block from the war memorial, was also locked down, although a spokeswoman said no shooting occurred inside. Police are reportedly searching cars attempting to travel from Ottawa to Quebec, and are going door to door in downtown Ottawa, where schools remain in lockdown. Canadian air defences were placed on heightened alert after the shooting in Canada’s parliament, a US defense official said. "The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) is taking appropriate and prudent steps to ensure we are adequately postured to respond quickly to any incidents involving aviation in Canada," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Ramtanu Maitra |