Two accused of plot to detonate bombs at Canada Day event

SURREY – Canadian police said yesterday they had foiled an al-Qaeda-inspired plot to detonate three pressure-cooker bombs during Monday’s Canada Day holiday outside the parliament building in the Pacific coast city of Victoria, arresting a Canadian man and woman and seizing their home-made explosive devices.

Police said there was no evidence to suggest a foreign link to the planned attack, which targeted public celebrations outside the parliament building in Victoria, capital of the province of British Columbia.

They declined to detail any links between the two Canadians and the al-Qaeda network. They also said they were not aware of any connection to the April 15th bombings at the Boston marathon in which three people were killed by devices built from pressure cookers.

“This self-radicalised behaviour was intended to create maximum impact on a national holiday,” Wayne Rideout, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told a news conference.

“They took steps to educate themselves and produced explosive devices designed to cause injury and death.” – Reuters