Homegrown terrorists pose threat, University of Calgary expert warns
CALGARY — With a third Calgarian confirmed fighting with extremist groups overseas, a University of Calgary terrorism expert warns that Canada needs to do more to prevent homegrown terrorists — and deal with radicalized ones who quietly return home.
“These individuals are going into these jihadist hot spots, they are fighting a long side and learning alongside (extremist groups), and becoming even further ideologically extreme,” said Michael Zekulin, who teaches political science and researches terrorism and radicalization.
“They come back and they have a whole lot of credibility. This is someone in the community that walks the walk, says, ‘I’ve been over there and I’ve been doing this,’ and will have a bigger reach of friends and acquaintances, more than a recruiter operating in the shadows.”
Zekulin’s comments come after Calgarian Farah Mahemd Shirdon was confirmed to be fighting abroad with an extremist group.
CBC News reported Wednesday that Shirdon, who is in his early 20s, is fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Shirdon, who attended SAIT in 2012, is seen in a recent ISIL video burning his Canadian passport and issuing threats to Canada and the U.S.
One of Shirdon’s former schoolmates remembers him as “a jokester, kind of loud” in both John Ware Middle High School and Henry Wise Wood High School, where he likely graduated in 2011.
The head of Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told a Senate committee in February that roughly 130 Canadians had joined terror groups in Arab countries. Shirdon is the third Calgarian confirmed to be fighting abroad with extremist groups.
Damian Clairmont, 22, was killed in Syria, likely in December or January, while reportedly fighting alongside a group of al-Qaida-affiliated rebels in the country’s civil war.
Earlier this month, news emerged that Pakistan-born Salman Ashrafi, who grew up in Calgary, was part of a suicide bomb attack in Iraq in November 2013 that left 46 people dead.
Zekulin said it can’t be ignored that “there’s obviously something going on” in Calgary.