2 Canadian Soldiers Have Been Killed In Acts Of Violence In The Past 2 Days
REUTERS/Chris Wattie
On Oct. 21, a Quebec man was shot and killed by police after he used a car to attack two soldiers in a parking lot in a town outside of Montreal. One of the soldiers died.
According to the Prime Minister's officer, the attacker, identified as Martin Couture-Rouleau, had been ideologically radicalized and had been known to terrorist investigators in Canada prior to the incident. The jihadist sympathizer had previously been detained at a Canadian airport in July after attempting to fly to Turkey.
Yesterday's attack led to a raising of the terrorist alert level within Canada.
"I am horrified by what took place here," Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said at a press conference. "This is a terrible act of violence against our country, against our military, against our values."
Couture-Rouleau's attack came a day before a shooting attack on Canada's Houses of Parliament in Ottawa.
The New York Times reports that a Canadian soldier has been killed in the shooting.
The Ottawa Police have told Reuters that they are currently looking for suspects linked to the attack in Ottawa.
"We are actively looking for suspects right now, so we don't know if it is suspect one or suspects plural," Ottawa Police Constable Marc Soucy told Reuters.
The possibility that there is more than one gunman raises the specter of a coordinated terror attack.
Signs of radicalization of Quebec suspect
There are currently no links connecting the Ottawa shootings to Couture-Rouleau's attack outside of Montreal. There have also been no conclusive links proven between Couture-Rouleau and ISIS, highlighting the likelihood that this was a "lone wolf" attack.
Couture-Rouleau's Facebook page featured a photo of ISIS's flag, along with rants against local Muslim groups and a professed support for al-Qaeda.
ISIS has urged supporters to carry out attacks against Western nations that have joined the US-led coalition against the group. Canada has said that it will send six fighter jets to take part in the operations against the jihadists in Iraq.
Ottawa police say it's "too early" to tell whether today's shooting incidents in downtown Ottawa are linked to terrorism.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has not responded to Business Insider's requests for comment on the developing situation at Parliament Hill.
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