17 arrested in alleged Canada terror plot
Afp, Ottawa
Canada foiled a homegrown terrorist plot and arrested 17 Canadians who were allegedly planning major attacks inspired by al-Qaeda in the province of Ontario, officials said Saturday. Those arrested late Friday and early Saturday in the Toronto area, across Lake Ontario from the US state of New York, "were planning to commit a series of terrorist attacks against solely Canadian targets in southern Ontario," said Mike McDonnell, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The group acquired three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a common fertiliser ingredient, and "components necessary to create explosive devices," he said. The amount is three times what was used in the 1995 bombing of a US federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that killed 168 people.
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Veiled supporters of some of the suspects in a terrorist plot leave the courthouse in the Toronto suburb of Brampton following their first court appearance on Saturday. Twelve men and five youths arrested overnight face charges for plotting al-Qaeda-inspired "terrorist attacks" in Ontario, Canada's economic hub, officials said. PHOTO: AFP |
