Canadian Parliament under Attack, Harper: No Safe Heaven to Terrorists

Local Editor

Canada's prime minister vowed Wednesday to redouble the nation's fight against "terrorist organizations" after a soldier was gunned down in the capital and parliament was stormed by an assailant.

"Canada will never be intimidated," Stephen Harper told the nation in a televised address.

"In fact, this will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts and those of national security agencies to take all necessary steps to identify and counter threats and keep Canada safe here at home," he said.

Likewise, it will "lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts and fight against the terrorist organizations who brutalize those in other countries with the hope of bringing their savagery to our shores," he added.

In parallel, Harper vowed: "They will have no safe haven."

The prime minister's address came as authorities lifted a lockdown in downtown areas of Ottawa except in the parliament building itself.
The attacker, identified in the Canadian media as 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, was considered a "high risk" suspect whose passport had been confiscated to prevent him fighting abroad.

He shot and killed a Canadian soldier who was mounting a ceremonial guard at a war memorial and stormed the parliament building nearby, before being shot dead in turn by the assembly's sergeant-at-arms.
Harper said the incident was a "grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world."

"We are also reminded that attacks on our security personnel and on our institutions of governance are by their very nature, attacks on our country, on our values, on our society, on us Canadians as a free and democratic people who embrace human dignity for all," he said.

Harper also told Canadians more would come out "about the terrorist and any accomplices he may have had."
A Canadian soldier standing guard at a war memorial in the country's capital was shot dead Wednesday, and heavy gunfire then erupted inside parliament. One gunman was killed, and police said they were hunting for as many as two others.
US and Canadian air defenses were put on heightened alert, and the American Embassy in Ottawa was placed on lockdown, officials said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command [NORAD] "is taking appropriate and prudent steps to ensure we are adequately postured to respond quickly to any incidents involving aviation in Canada," said a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ottawa police spokesman Chuck Benoit said two or three gunmen were believed to be involved in the attacks.

In Washington, President Barack Obama condemned the shootings as "outrageous," and in a telephone call with the prime minister, offered US help and reassurance of the American people's solidarity with Canada.
Tony Zobl said he witnessed the soldier being gunned down from his fourth-floor window directly above the National War Memorial, a 21-meter, granite cenotaph, or tomb, with bronze sculptures commemorating World War I.

"I looked out the window and saw a shooter, a man dressed all in black with a kerchief over his nose and mouth and something over his head as well, holding a rifle and shooting an honor guard in front of the cenotaph point-blank, twice," Zobl told the Canadian Press news agency.

"The honor guard dropped to the ground, and the shooter kind of raised his arms in triumph holding the rifle."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team