The Intifada comes to Toronto

Toronto attacker said 'Allah' while wounding service members during Canadian Armed Forces recruitment center stabbing

BY  NICOLE HENSLEY   

  

VICTOR BIRO/AP

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders addresses reporters after a double stabbing at a military recruitment center on Monday afternoon.

The assailant in a Toronto military recruitment center stabbing said “Allah” as he wounded two members of the Canadian Armed Forces during an “unprovoked attack,” according to a local report.

The 27-year-old suspect was taken into custody after stabbing a uniformed soldier stationed at the North York federal building’s front counter at 3:30 p.m. Monday. While a motive has not been determined, authorities are not ruling out terrorism.

“Certain comments were made by this gentleman while held in custody before the police arrived that has caused some concern,” Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said at a media briefing following the assaults. “This has caused us to look at the motive beyond the attack.”

Saunders would not reveal the suspect’s utterances although several witnesses in the district recruiting center allegedly heard the suspect say “Allah,” a police source told the Toronto Sun.

The same source described the suspect as a man of Middle Eastern descent.

A group of about seven service members apprehended the knife-wielding suspect before he could get deeper into the federal building. During the confrontation, the assailant managed to wound a second soldier.

The two victims, who have not been identified, suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The suspect is in custody and undergoing a mental health evaluation.

Had the service members not reacted as quickly as they did, the injuries would have been “much more serious,” Saunders added.

In a statement, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale declined to elaborate on the attack pending the on-going investigation. He described the assaults as an “isolated incident.”

In 2014, a gunman killed a Canadian soldier at the war memorial in Ottawa and then stormed Parliament before being shot dead. The man had taken issue with Canada’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State.

The attack came two days after an “ISIL-inspired terrorist” ran over two soldiers in a Quebec parking lot, killing one and injuring the other before being shot to death by police.

The man had been under surveillance by Canadian authorities, who feared he had jihadist ambitions and seized his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.

With News Wire Services