CANADA:-One
of two gunmen who shouted 'Allahu akbar!' as they opened fire at a mosque in
Quebec City was of Moroccan origin, a witness and local media reported Monday,
revealing the first details about the attackers in the massacre that killed six
men. The terror suspects were identified as Mohamed Khadir and Alexandre
Bissonnette, the CBC reported. The two men were arrested soon after the
shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre Sunday night and were expected
to appear in court later Monday, police told reporters.
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One
of the gunmen actually turned himself in, calling 911 less than 20 minutes
later and giving officers his location in d'Orleans so they could arrest him,
police said. The attack unfolded in the men's section of the mosque. Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the attack, calling it a “terrorist attack on
Muslims.”
Police
survey the scene after deadly shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada.
(Francis Vachon/The Canadian Press via AP)
The
attackers were students at Université Laval, a school in Quebec, a source close
to the investigation told Radio Canada, saying one was Moroccan. Police said
the suspects were not on their radar.Five people were in critical condition and
12 others suffered minor injuries, University of Quebec Hospital Centre
spokeswoman Genevieve Dupuis said Monday. The dead ranged in age from age 35 to
60.
A
possible motive was unclear. Police said they did not believe there were other
suspects. One of the gunmen was armed with an AK-47, the Le Soleil newspaper
reported. A witness who asked to remain anonymous told Radio Canada the two
shooters were masked.“It seemed to me that they had a Quebecois accent. They
started to fire, and as they shot they yelled, 'Allahu akbar!' The bullets hit
people that were praying. People who were praying lost their lives. A bullet
passed right over my head,” the person said.
“It
was with tremendous shock, sadness and anger that I heard of this evening’s
tragic and fatal shooting at the Centre culturel islamique de Quebec located in
the Ste-Foy neighborhood of the city of Quebec,” Trudeau said in a statement. Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these
senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country.”
The
gunfire started at the Islamic center at around 8 p.m., Le Journal de Quebec
reported. More than 50 people were attending prayer service at the time of the
shooting. The center's president Mohamed Yangui said the shooters reloaded at
least three times.
Police
ramped up security at mosques across the country after the massacre. An
unidentified man looking for his friends, who were regular attendees of evening
prayers, told Le Journal de Quebec, "I've tried to reach them, but I
cannot. It's terrible."
The
French-speaking province of Quebec has been embroiled in a lengthy debate about
race and religious accommodation. The previous separatist government of the
province called for a ban on ostentatious religious symbols such as the hijab
in public institutions.
The
CBC reported that someone left a pig's head on the mosque's doorstep this past
June, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islam's holy book, the Koran,
forbids them from consuming pork."We were told that it was an isolated
act, but today we have deaths," Yangui told reporters. "It is minutes
and hours of terror and anguish."
In
the U.S., the NYPD said in a statement that officers have been told to give
“special attention” to mosques in the area. Police said they were monitoring
the situation in Quebec.
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