IMAN Chairman condemns terrorist attacks in Canada
Jueves, 23 Octubre 2014
Canada On Alert After Two Attacks In Days
SKY NEWS
A second attack on a Canadian soldier in three days came after the government raised the country's terror alert level.
The alert level was raised on Tuesday to medium after a man, one of 90 suspected militants being tracked by police, ran over two soldiers in Quebec.
One of the soldiers died as a result of his injuries and the suspected attacker, identified as Martin Couture Roulea, 25, was shot and killed.
On Wednesday, Canada's parliament was placed into lockdown after a soldier guarding a nearby war memorial was shot and wounded. He later died in hospital.
Witnesses said more than 30 shots were fired inside the building, and one suspected gunman was shot dead.
Although the attacker, or attackers, in Ottawa have not been identified, Roulea was described as a "radicalised" individual who had his passport taken away because he wanted to travel to either Syria or Iraq.
Earlier this month, Canada announced its intention to join the US coalition carrying out military operations against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Professor Anthony Glees, security and intelligence expert from the University of Buckingham, said he thought the attacks stemmed directly from that decision.
"It shows that people are determined to use terrorism to get the Canadians – who have in the past sometimes been a bit wobbly – to think about their support for airstrikes," he said.
The Canadian government has said it was aware of more than 130 Canadians overseas who are "suspected of terrorism-related activities".
Earlier this month, NBC News reported that Canadian authorities had thwarted an Islamic State-inspired plot to carry out an attack in a public place in the country.
At around 10am on Wednesday, 32-year-old petty criminal Michael Zehaf-Bibeau killed a soldier standing guard at Ottawa's war memorial
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said threats were "very, very real", but did not confirm the claim.
On Tuesday, speaking about the attack in Quebec Mr Harper told the Canadian Parliament: "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 civilised democracy."
A poll last week by Abacus Data found the majority of responders supported the decision to join the fight against IS.
Police stations in Ottawa were closed to the public after the latest attack and Canadian armed forces bases across the country were being shut down, according to CBC TV.
US and Canadian air defenses were also placed on heightened alert, according to a US defense official.
Condemning the attack, Chairman of the IMAN Foundation, Ribal Al-Assad said:
"I am absolutely appalled by these attacks and my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and the families at this time.
This is however a tragedy which illustrates the need for the international community to work together to combat extremism. We have already seen similar lone wolf attacks in the UK, Russia, China, Belgium and France - there are unfortunately bound to be more if the situation is not brought under control.
The people who commit these acts have no concept of humanity, they will ruthlessly murder anyone who does not share the same perverted ideology.
All those who travel to Syria and Iraq are joining and being highly trained by different jihadist groups such as ISIS and Al-Nusra - this has got to stop.
Let us hope that action is taken soon to put an end to the extremists and their twisted ideology once and for all - the issue needs to be combated at its core so that horrific attacks like the ones recently experienced in Canada and elsewhere are never repeated."
