MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti) – The threat level of a potential act of domestic terrorism rose from low to medium in Canada three days prior to a terrorist attack that killed one Canadian soldier and injured another in Quebec yesterday, Global News reported.
The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC) distributed a document to Canadian intelligence services last week, warning that the domestic terrorist activity level had risen from “unlikely” to “could occur” for the first time since 2010, according to Global News.
“Intelligence indicates that an individual or group within Canada or abroad has the intent and capability to commit an act of terrorism. ITAC assesses that a violent act of terrorism could occur”, said an internal document obtained by Global News.
The document came just days before a deadly terrorist attack in Quebec on October 21. A 25-year old Martin Couture-Rouleau killed a Canadian soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run accident yesterday in the province of Quebec.
Couture-Rouleau waited for two members of the military in a parking lot in St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, before driving his car into the soldiers. After a high-speed chase, Couture-Rouleau was shot and killed, Canadian CBC News reported.
Investigators informed Couture-Rouleau had first come to attention in June, after concerns grew over his Facebook postings showing his radicalization and desire to leave Canada to join radical militants in the Middle East, said a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) official, as reported by ABC News.
Although his passport was seized, Couture-Rouleau was not arrested, since “RCMP could not arrest someone for having radical thoughts”, RCMP said, as quoted by CBC News.
