RCMP officially identify homegrown terrorists
Men from London, Ont., involved in Algeria attack
Not long ago they were boys, coming of age in London, Ont., in a family-oriented area not unlike any other middleclass neighbourhood across the nation.
One was quiet but sweet, the youngest of two boys from a Greek Orthodox family.
One played defence on the London South Collegiate Institute football team, where he was known as a big “jolly” jokester.
Another was a Korean-Canadian who also donned the team’s maroon jersey.
Now their yearbook photos fill newspapers and TV broadcasts, and their names — Xristos Katsiroubas, Ali Medlej and Aaron Yoon — are connected to a deadly, Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist attack in the Algerian desert.
The trio of friends attended the red brick high school tucked among treelined streets with homes fronted with wooden porches. Their high school yearbook photos, taken as recently as 2007, betray youthful, teenage faces.
The news inspired incredulity: shock was felt among Medlej’s football teammates, even at the local bakery Katsiroubas frequented with his father and brother Andrew.
It reverberated across a country stunned to learn of young, homegrown terrorists.
But officials Thursday removed any shred of doubt that the lives of these men radically changed in recent years.
In what they called an “exceptional move,” RCMP confirmed Thursday that Medlej, 24, and Katsiroubas, 22, are dead. Their remains were found among the carnage of the violent, four-day siege at a remote Algerian gas plant in January, believed carried out by an Al Qaedaaffiliated group.
The initial attack and the subsequent counter-offensive by Algerian security forces left some 37 hostages and 29 militants dead.
RCMP left open the possibility that another Canadian may be among the as yet-unidentified remains of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists who died during the military counter-strike.
Though they would not confirm the names of any other suspected associates, it is believed that Yoon is alive and being detained in a North African jail.
Officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs were tight-lipped, saying only they are “aware of a Canadian who has been detained abroad.”
But a spokesperson for Ahmed Ould Teguedi, the Mauritanian ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed that Yoon is being held by authorities there, according to the National Post.
He has been “arrested because he was involved, they say, in terrorism actions in the region,” spokesperson Tahra Cherif reportedly said.
The paper also reported that Yoon’s brother, who asked not to be named, confirmed Yoon had converted to Islam four years ago, but was wholly against violence. The brother said he was friends with Medlej and Katsiroubas and had travelled to North Africa, but did not have evidence to suggest Yoon has been detained.
The London Free Press reported that Katsiroubas also converted to Islam in Grade 9, when he changed his name to “Mustafa.” RCMP Supt. Marc Richer acknowledged investigators are having trouble piecing together the homegrown terrorist puzzle, and appealed for public help to track down who might have aided the pair to go abroad.
He said the RCMP hopes to capitalize on the enormous public attention now focused on London, saying it is possible somebody in the community holds a vital key that would unlock the mystery.
When asked directly if it’s possible another Canadian is among the dead terrorists, Richer would only say “the work with respect to the remains continues.”
Adding another level of mystery is the possible inclusion of yet another young man from London, a known associate of the trio.
Benjamin Caleb Thomas and Medlej were arrested in 2007 in Edmonton after shoplifting from Safeway. Both men pleaded guilty on May 7, 2007 to shoplifting under $5,000 and were fined $1,000 each. Thomas is on London’s most wanted list for failing to comply with warrants. His current whereabouts are unknown. A London barber, who asked for anonymity, told the London Free Press that he knew all four men, and frequently saw them hanging out as a group, smoking and goofing around the neighbourhood plaza. “They went to the store together. They came here for haircuts,” he told the paper. The RCMP says it is investigating potential ties to others in this country and seeking information on who may have helped the two men leave Canada. Richer denied the RCMP had hit a dead end, saying the investigation started months ago and is ongoing. He insisted the RCMP has not zeroed in on any particular cultural or religious community, and urged Canadians not to make assumptions either. “Radicalization to violence is not a new phenomenon. It is not exclusive to any single ethnic or interest group, any one religion, any specific socio-economic class, ideology or political world view,” he said. “Ultimately, countering radicalization to violence also depends on the public taking an active role in intervention, including assisting law enforcement by reporting suspicious and illegal activities.” With files from Alyshah Hasham and Victoria Ptashnick