The accused in a knife attack at a military recruiting centre in Toronto is a Canadian citizen who was heard uttering, “Allah told me to do this”, police said on Tuesday.
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TORONTO (AP) Toronto police are looking into whether a double stabbing at a military recruitment center might be terror related. He said Ali had no previous criminal record and was unresponsive to questions at the scene.
Two days before, a “radicalized” convert to Islam drove into two members of the Canadian armed forces who had been walking in a strip mall parking lot in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, killing one of them, Canadian authorities said.
The man facing charges in the stabbings of two members of Canada’s military in Toronto said he was following orders from Allah.
Ali was born in Montreal and has lived in Toronto since 2011, Saunders said. Both soldiers were released from the hospital.
After a brief court appearance on Tuesday, his lawyer highlighted the seriousness of the charges.
A bulletin issued to members of the Toronto Police Service following the attack cautioned officers against “potential sympathizers or lone-actors”, and asked them to “maintain heightened vigilance for suspicious behavior”. While in custody, police say the suspect said things that prompted further investigation.
While investigators were probing possible terror links, the city’s police chief said there didn’t appear to be any connection to terrorist groups, although it seemed the man had deliberately targeted military personnel.
Sources in the Somali community told CBC News that Ali studied at the University of Calgary, but returned to Toronto before getting a degree – the university says Ali registered in open studies classes and was never admitted to a specific program.
In a statement, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale declined to elaborate on the attack pending the on-going investigation.
Neither soldier was seriously hurt.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the incident on social media on Tuesday, wishing a “full recovery” to those injured in the attack. Allah told me to come here and kill people, ‘ ” suspect Ayanie Hassan Ali said Monday at the center, according to Saunders. Before being gunned down on Parliament Hill in October 2014, the terrorist shot and killed a Canadian soldier guarding the National War Memorial. Couture-Rouleu had been under surveillance and had his passport withdrawn after he tried to travel to Turkey.
