Terrorist threat to Canada 'serious'

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson (above right) told the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence on Monday that the killings of the soldiers in the capital, Ottawa, and outside of Montreal appeared to have been carried out after little planning or preparation. He also said it highlighted the need for the country's security and intelligence services to focus their efforts on stopping radicalized Canadian residents from traveling abroad to commit "acts of terrorism."

"Preventing the individuals from traveling is critical. If these individuals return with training and/or battle experience, they pose an even greater threat to Canada and our allies," Paulson said.

The head of the RCMP was speaking a day after he issued a statement, in which he said that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the gunman who shot dead a soldier at the war memorial in Ottawa last week, had made a video of himself showing that his actions were driven by "ideological and political motives."

During Monday's hearing Paulson said Zehaf-Bibeau had spoken of Canadian foreign policy and his religious beliefs in the video. He also said he hoped the RCMP would be able to release the video at a later date, after it has undergone a detailed analysis.

After shooting the soldier, Zehaf-Bibeau, who was toting a long gun, ran into the nearby Parliament building, where he was shot dead by the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons.

Deadly car attack

His attack came two days after two soldiers were run over by a car near Montreal, resulting in the death of one of the servicemen. Earlier, Paulson said the driver of the car, Martin Couture-Rouleau, was a Canadian convert to Islam who had had his passport seized, as he was suspected of being an extremist seeking to travel abroad to fight. He too was shot dead by security forces.

Canadians security and intelligence services are monitoring around 90 individuals they fear may be seeking to leave the country to fight alongside militant groups or to mount attacks at home. Several Western countries, including Germany, have expressed similar concerns about their own residents in recent months.

The two attacks came during a week when Canada sent warplanes to the Middle East to take part in US-led airstrikes on "Islamic State" militants in Iraq.

Following Paulson's testimony, a senior officials from the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS) was also to testify.

Later in the day, the Conservative government ofPrime Minister Stephen Harper was to introduce legislation designed to broaden the powers of CSIS to investigate potential terrorists.

pfd/shs (Reuters, AP, AFP)