Canadian soldier hit by ‘radicalized’ driver dies

Suspect earlier tried to go and fight for ISIL.

Canadian soldier hit by ‘radicalized’ driver dies
A Canadian soldier run down by a man who authorities suspect had been “radicalized” by extremism died Tuesday.

The soldier, one of two hit by a motorist who was later shot and killed by police in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, was not identified. The other soldier is described as having less serious injuries, Canadian media reported.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, said Martin Rouleau, the suspect in the hit and run, was being watched by authorities.

“This individual was known to federal authorities including our Integrated National Security Investigations team in Montreal who along with other authorities were concerned that he had become radicalized,” the RCMP said in a website statement.

Rouleau had apparently converted to Islam about a year ago, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

While the suspect’s Facebook page had been taken down when checked by The Anadolu Agency early Tuesday, Radio-Canada reported that he identified himself on the page as Ahmad LeConverti, French for Ahmad the Converted. 

Friends said Rouleau was the father of a young son, struggling to make ends meet, when he converted to Islam and began to shy away from others, reported The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper.

This past summer he was stopped by authorities when he tried to leave Canada to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

As Rouleau fled from the scene after hitting the two soldiers in a parking lot in the Quebec town, he called 911 and said he was “acting in the name of Allah,” according to Quebec media. Police chased the car for about 2-and-a-half miles (4 km) when it entered a ditch and rolled over. Reports said Rouleau ran at police with a knife and he was shot by an officer and later died in hospital.

Canada’s top general had already warned that the country’s involvement in the combat operations against ISIL in Iraq could risk the safety of its military personnel in Canada.

Anadolu Agency / Photo: Wikimedia
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