Canada authorities thwart ‘potential terrorist attack’

Canadian federal police said they arrested a suspect who posed a “potential terrorist threat,” after receiving a tip about an imminent attack. Authorities had received “credible information of a potential terrorist threat,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement on Wednesday.

A suspect was arrested “to ensure that there is no danger to the public’s safety,” the RCMP said, adding that it takes “all such threats seriously.”  The investigation is still underway as the matter “continues to unfold,” and no other details from officials were immediately available. Broadcaster CTV, citing internal government documents, however, said the suspect was linked to the Islamic State group and planned to set off an explosive device in a packed public space in a major city.

Canada was the target of two separate lone wolf attacks in October 2014 in Quebec and Ottawa that resulted in the death of two soldiers. In Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Montreal, a young man drove his car into two soldiers in a parking lot, killing one before being shot dead by police after a short chase.