Canada police kill IS terrorist suspect

The man was shot on Wednesday while in the backseat of a taxi. He moves in with his sister in Strathroy, Ontario, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) southwest of Toronto. Police keep watch around a house in Strathroy, Ontario, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016.

Taking all relevant information into account, the national terrorism threat level for Canada remains at “medium” where it has stood since the fall of 2014, Goodale said.

Driver also cited recent attacks in Paris and Brussels.

RCMP say they were given information from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation saying that Aaron Driver was planning a terror attack targeting an urban centre during either morning or afternoon rush hour sometime this week.

RCMP investigators quickly identified Driver as the man behind the balaclava.

Amarnath Amarasingam, a researcher at Dalhousie University who studies the paths individuals take towards extremism, said on Twitter that he had received an email from Driver on April 17 that expressed his satisfaction with his life.

He said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and other police and security agencies were involved in the operation. The FBI provided a screen shot and later a video of the masked suspect threatening a terror attack.

“The reported terror plot that was thwarted yesterday demonstrates that Canadians must not only remain vigilant about the threat of terrorism at home and overseas, but also be a strong contributor to military efforts to fight it worldwide”.

Aaron Driver, 24, died shortly after detonating an explosive device in the back of a cab he had entered in Strathroy, Ontario, on Wednesday.

USA and Canadian authorities do not immediately know who is shown in the video or where he lives.

That is according to police, who say they had received credible information – including a so-called “martyrdom video” – from United States authorities, indicating that Aaron Driver was planning to strike.

“The outcome if we have not been able to apprehend him, based on his actions when he was confronted, could have been significantly more awful”, said Deputy Commissioner Mike Cabana. He also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as many other lone attackers have done.

Driver had been previously arrested on suspicion he could have carried out a terrorist act, or helped a terror group.

Driver’s plot would have been Canada’s first incidence of domestic terrorism since 2014, when a gunman fatally shot a Canadian soldier and stormed Canada’s Parliament building.

If he had gotten out of that residence before we got there, the scenario would have ended a lot differently.

“He was going to get married to a gal in Toronto”, the attorney said.

The US Ambassador to Canada, Bruce Heyman, said in a statement the case reflected “strong cross-border law enforcement cooperation” between the two North American countries.

“The safety and security of Canadians is of the utmost importance to the RCMP and we take all such threats seriously”.

Regarding the previous case, he said police had meant to charge Driver with terrorism threats based on his social media postings, but Driver and police reached a peace bond settlement allowing the RCMP to monitor Driver for up to a year.

In response to his death, ISIS on Friday called Driver a “soldier of the Islamic State” through its semi-official news agency Amaq.

Driver was under a court order from earlier this year to not associate with any terrorist organization, including the Islamic State.

Police arrested Driver in June 2015 but a court granted him a peace bond, requiring he maintain good behaviour for a certain period.