A police officer investigates an overturned vehicle in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec on Monday. Two Canadian soldiers were injured in a hit-and-run by a male driver who was later shot by police officers. One of the soldiers has died.

Agencies/Montreal

One of two Canadian soldiers injured in a suspected terror attack outside Montreal has died, Quebec police said yesterday.

The two soldiers were run over on Monday by a young radicalised Muslim convert in a parking lot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, about 40km south-east of Montreal.

The suspect, Martin Rouleau, 25, was shot and killed by police following a high-speed chase.

The dead soldier’s identity has not yet been released.

The second soldier suffered less serious injuries and is recovering in hospital.

Rouleau had been red-flagged as a suspected Islamist extremist by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Rouleau lived with his father in a bungalow on a quiet residential street in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Neighbours described him as a polite and quiet young man.

They said his appearance began changing about a year ago, when he converted to Islam. He grew a beard and started wearing traditional Middle Eastern-style clothing.

He also started calling himself Ahmad Rouleau. His Facebook profile under that name featured several posts espousing militant views and denouncing the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel, as well as Christianity and atheism.

The attack was “clearly linked to terrorist ideology,” Canada’s public safety minister said yesterday.

It was the first fatal attack on Canadian soil involving Islamist militants, and the first incident since Canada joined the battle against Islamic State fighters who have taken over parts of Iraq and Syria.

“What took place yesterday is clearly linked to terrorist ideology,” Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney told reporters in the Quebec town.

“I can assure you we take the terrorist threat seriously. This tragedy reminds us painfully that this threat is very real.”

Canada is sending six fighter jets to take part in the US-led campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq.

Blaney declined to give any details of the police investigation into the attack and did not respond when asked about media reports that said Canadian authorities had confiscated Rouleau’s passport earlier this year.

A neighbour, speaking on condition that her name not be used, said that Rouleau became radicalised about a year ago after getting involved with extremist Muslims.

Many of the entries on the Ahmad Rouleau page on Facebook promote Islam as the true religion and Christianity and atheism as false, but some posts have a political tone.

Television footage outside the house of Rouleau’s father showed a police investigator leaving with a bag overnight.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has for years fretted about the dangers posed by home-grown extremists.

Jeff Yaworski, deputy director of operations at the spy agency, said on Monday the agency was worried that Islamic State’s “message and successful social media strategy could inspire radicalised individuals to undertake attacks here in Canada”.

He told legislators the CSIS was aware of at least 50 Canadians involved with Islamic State and other militant groups in the region.

Ottawa said last week it planned to boost the powers of CSIS by giving it the ability to track and investigate potential terrorists when they travelled abroad.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Oct. 8 it was tracking 90 individuals who either intended to go abroad to join militant groups or had returned to Canada after taking part in terror-related activities.

 

 

 

 

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