Five injured in suspected terror spree in Canada
CANADIAN police arrested a man yesterday suspected of stabbing a policeman and injuring four pedestrians in a series of violent incidents being investigated as an act of terrorism.
The crime spree began on Saturday evening outside a football stadium in Edmonton and ended hours later with a high-speed chase in which the driver of a van deliberately ploughed into pedestrians, police said.
“Currently, we believe this is an individual who acted alone, although the investigation is in its early stages,” Edmonton police chief Rod Knecht said. At about 8.15pm, a man in a white Chevy Malibu crashed through police barricades outside an Edmonton stadium where a football game was being played, he said.
The car struck a police officer standing in front of his patrol car, sending him flying 4.6m through the air.
“A male, believed to be 30 years of age, then jumped out of his vehicle and began viciously stabbing the officer with a knife,” the police said.
The suspect then fled on foot and the policeman was rushed to hospital. Just before midnight, police pulled over a rental U-Haul truck and noticed that the name on the driver’s licence was similar to that of the white Malibu.
The man in the truck then took off, according to the police account.
“During the chase, the truck deliberately attempted to hit pedestrians in crosswalks and alleys,” it said.
The truck later flipped over, and the driver was arrested.
Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, a man armed with a knife killed two people at the main train station at 1.45pm yesterday, before being shot by soldiers patrolling there, local officials said.
The deaths came with France still on high alert following a string of terror attacks which began in January 2015.
The government has since deploying about 7 000 troops across the country to guard high-risk areas.
The knifeman is believed to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) before assaulting passers-by, a source close to the investigation said.