Terror alert had been raised in Canada two days earlier after 'lone wolf jihadi' killed soldier in car attack and ISIS singled out country for revenge over air strikes

  • The RCMP already had Canada on elevated alert because of a fatal jihadi attack just two days earlier
  • On Monday a Muslim convert deliberately ran over two soldiers, killing one of them; his friend said he was following ISIS's call to arms
  • The terror group's propaganda messages have called on members to 'kill a disbelieving American or European ... or an Australian, or a Canadian'
  • Witnesses on Wednesday described a short, overweight man with long hair wearing a dark jacket and an 'Arabic' scarf

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor for MailOnline

Published: 14:34 EST, 22 October 2014 | Updated: 15:11 EST, 22 October 2014

Two days before a series of shootings in Canada's capital, the nation's national security agencies elevated their alert level in response to specific threats from ISIS – the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham – and a confirmed jihadi car attack that killed one soldier and injured another.

Martin Couture Rouleau, a 25-year-old Muslim convert, mowed down the military men in a parking lot after lying in wait for them for two hours. Canadian Police shot him dead after a high-speed chase. 

In Ottawa on Wednesday morning, a gunman killed a Canadian soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial; minutes later police reportedly chased him in the the halls of Parliament where he fired dozens more shots, injuring three people. The parliamentary sergeant-at-arms shot the assailant dead.

It's unclear whether the attack was related to ISIS or the larger global Islamist movement.

A friend of Rouleau, the homicidal driver who died Monday, told reporters that he had acted in response to an October 13 ISIS directive calling on its foot soldiers to mount attacks 'in every country that has entered into the alliance against the Islamic State.'

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The RCMP has been on elevated alert since Monday when a Muslim convert deliberately ran over two soldiers, killing one of them

The gunman killed a soldier at Canada's War Memorial

The gunman killed a soldier at Canada's War Memorial

'The citizens of crusader nations should be targeted wherever they can be found,' the group wrote in its glossy magazine, 'Dabiq.'

The friend told The Toronto Star that 'he wanted to be a martyr. ... The caliphate called all the Muslims on earth to fight. He listened to what they had to say and he did his part here.'

The directions Rouleu followed did not name Canada as a specific country where Islamists should mount attacks.

But it did call it 'very important that attacks take place in every country that has entered into the alliance against the Islamic State. ... The citizens of crusader nations should be targeted wherever they can be found.'

Separately, on Sept. 21 ISIS released a video message that singled out Canada and three other nations. 

'If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,' the message read in an English translation.

The same video urged Muslims to 'strike their police, security and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents.'

That command let the Ontario Provincial Patrol to put all its officers on high alert.

A bulletin to its personnel warned that 'this demonstrates clear intention to target, kill and decapitate frontline officers and that prior planning was involved.'

Indications of potential terror ties surfaced on Twitter in the hours following Wednesday's attacks in Canada.

Fox News reported that a translation of one tweet reads: 'soldiers of #Islamic_state who are everywhere around the globe [have] declared war on the coalition countries.' 

America's neighbor to the north found itself in the ISIS crosshairs shortly after agreeing to participate in the multinational anti-terror coalition.

Shops in downtown Ottawa, Canada were on lockdown throughout the morning as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police secured the crime scene and interviewed witnesses

Shops in downtown Ottawa, Canada were on lockdown throughout the morning as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police secured the crime scene and interviewed witnesses

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the White House wasn't in a position to classify the shootings as terror-related

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the White House wasn't in a position to classify the shootings as terror-related

Canada raised its terror threat level just two days ago after a jihadi ran down two soldiers – killing one – and then was shot and killed by police following a high-speed chase

Canada raised its terror threat level just two days ago after a jihadi ran down two soldiers – killing one – and then was shot and killed by police following a high-speed chase

Martin Couture Rouleau reportedly brandished this knife when he got of out his car after flipping it on a Canadian highway

Martin Couture Rouleau reportedly brandished this knife when he got of out his car after flipping it on a Canadian highway

Canada, alongside dozens of other countries, is participating in the U.S.-led effort to cripple ISIS in Iraq. Just 24 hours ago six fighter jets left the province of Alberta en route to Kuwait, where 

Six Canadian warplanes departed for the Iraq combat mission Tuesday as this country joins the air campaign against Islamic State militants. The CF-18 Hornets will be directly involved with offensive strikes in Iraq. 

In the U.S. on Wednesday, the FBI quickly directed field offices to raise their threat levels. Canada's embassy in Washington, D.C. was locked down. 

And President Obama had a brief phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Asked if the Ottawa attacks were an ISIS operation, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that he was 'not in a position to render judgment' on the 'tragic situation.'

 

  

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