Weekend knife attack on B.C. bus was terrorism, RCMP alleges | 24CA News
An assault on a transit bus in Surrey, B.C. over the weekend is being handled as terrorism after RCMP nationwide safety police took over the investigation.
Abdul Aziz Kawam was initially charged with tried homicide for allegedly slashing a bus passenger’s throat on Saturday morning, however prosecutors added 4 counts of terrorism on Monday.
The incident passed off at simply after 9:30 a.m. when a person flashed a knife at a bus cease, then boarded a Coast Mountain bus and attacked the sufferer, who was badly injured however survived.
While described at first as a random assault following an altercation, the case took a flip when B.C.’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team was known as in.
The new prices allege the incident was dedicated “for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group,” in keeping with his on-line courtroom docket
Kawam was already dealing with prices of tried homicide, possession of a weapon for a harmful objective, and two counts of assault with a weapon inflicting bodily hurt.
The addition of the terrorism counts means he may face life in jail. He was scheduled for a courtroom look this morning.
Terrorism prices for assaults are uncommon in Canada.
A 2020 assault at a Toronto therapeutic massage parlour by an alleged INCEL misogynist was handled as “terrorist activity.”
The identical cost was later used in opposition to an ISIS supporter who killed a girl on a Toronto sidewalk with a hammer in 2020, and within the 2021 lethal London van assault that allegedly focused a Muslim household.
The case suggests the continued risk posed by low-level terrorism utilizing on a regular basis objects as weapons.
On March 23, RCMP introduced the arrest of a Montreal CEGEP pupil on terrorism allegations associated to the so-called Islamic State.
Mohamed Amine Assal, 18, was arrested on a terrorism peace bond after the FBI tipped off the RCMP to his alleged discussions on social media about conducting assaults.
According to RCMP allegations filed in courtroom, Assal promoted “violent jihad,” translated ISIS supplies and recommended an internet contact on explosives.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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