Canada worries as extremism lures more abroad

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By Marc Santora 

In Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s address to the nation, he acknowledged that Canada was not immune to terrorism, but emphasized that there would be no safe haven for those who threaten the country. (Pic: Reuters)

In January 2013, strewn amid the rubble and debris left after a terrorist attack on a gas plant in the Algerian desert were the remains of two men who had traveled far from home to wage what they viewed as a holy war.

The men had been friends in high school in Ontario, Canada, before they set off on a journey in 2011 that would take them to Morocco, Mauritania, a terrorist training camp in Mali and, ultimately, to their deaths in the sands of Algeria.

The forces that drove the men, Xris Katsiroubas and Ali Medlej, from their sedate life in Canada have only gathered momentum since then, both in Canada and in other Western nations.

In recent months, more than 100 Canadians have sought out conflicts in foreign lands from Somalia to Syria, according to a government report.

The threat was brought home for Canadians first on Monday, when a man who was inspired by Islamic extremists based overseas used his car to run down and kill a soldier in Quebec. The man was later killed by the police.

On Wednesday, Ottawa, the country’s capital, was locked down after a gunman shot and killed a soldier at a war memorial and then stormed the nation’s Parliament building. The gunman, who himself was fatally shot, was identified by the authorities as a young man who had recently converted to Islam.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who spoke to the nation from an undisclosed location on Wednesday evening, said that while the motive behind the attack that day was under investigation, the act had clearly been meant to terrorize. He said the attack was a “grim reminder” of the threats that the country faces.

Like other Western nations, Canada is struggling both to understand the phenomenon and to ensure that extremists who return home cause no harm.

Its efforts took on added urgency after American-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against the extremist group called the Islamic State.

Mr. Harper has been a staunch defender of the effort to destroy the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. On Oct. 8, Canadian lawmakers voted to authorize the nation’s military to participate in the strikes in Iraq.

“If left unchecked, this terrorist organization will grow and grow quickly,” Mr. Harper said when the measure passed. “They have already voiced their local and international terrorist intentions and identified Canada as a potential target.”

Mr. Harper was referring to comments made by Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, an Islamic State spokesman, who sought to rally fighters to the group’s cause and urged individual Muslims to attack civilians.

Mr. Adnani exhorted them to “kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State.”

The threat of a “lone wolf” attack is a top concern for Western security agencies, including Canada’s. “Terrorism remains the leading threat to Canada’s national security,” wrote Steven Blaney, minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, in a September report on the terrorist threat to the country.

“As of early 2014, the government was aware of more than 130 individuals with Canadian connections who were abroad and who were suspected of terrorism-related activities,” the report said.

While the idea that individuals are leaving their country of residence to take up arms in a foreign conflict is hardly new or unique to Canada, the report found that the number of people choosing to do so had picked up pace in recent months.

The report said Canadians had engaged in “training, fund-raising, promoting radical views and even planning terrorist violence.”

“Some extremist travelers remain abroad,” the report said. “Others have returned to Canada, while still others are presumed dead.” It said at least 30 “individuals with a Canadian connection” were involved in terrorist-related activity in Syria.

Michel Coulombe, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told lawmakers this month that the authorities were also looking into the activities of 80 people who had been radicalized, had traveled overseas and had returned home.

He said the government knew who these individuals were and where they were.

But he also cautioned calm, saying there was no intelligence indicating an imminent attack.

Nearly two weeks later, a man in Quebec turned his car into a deadly weapon, running over and killing a warrant officer and injuring a soldier.

It soon emerged that the driver of the car, Martin Rouleau-Couture, had been under watch by the police and had his passport seized after he tried to fly to Turkey to join the Islamic State.

He was one of 90 people being monitored as a part of 63 active national security investigations, according to Bob Paulson, the commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

“He was part of our investigative efforts to try and identify those people who might commit a criminal act of traveling abroad for terrorist purposes,” Mr. Paulson said.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com