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Canadian ISIS sympathizer killed by police

Xinhua, August 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

A suspected ISIS sympathizer was killed in the southern Ontario town of Strathroy by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Wednesday night hours after RCMP warned a potential terrorist threat, according to CBC Thursday.

The ISIS sympathizer named Aaron Driver, 24, was killed inside a home in the town of Strathroy, some 220 kilometres west of Toronto. He was well known to Canadian intelligence and police officials for his support for the Islamist terrorist group.

Driver was shot to death after he detonated a device that wounded himself and one other person.

The Canadian Press reported that Driver allegedly planned to use a bomb to carry out a suicide attack in a public area.

"The RCMP received credible information of a potential terrorist threat," an RCMP statement said Wednesday evening. "A suspect was identified and the proper course of action has been taken to ensure that there is no danger to the public's safety."

Maria Pereira, who lives next door to Driver's home where RCMP shot and killed Driver, said heard a loud explosion coming from her neighbour's yard Monday afternoon. and then she called police.

Driver first caught the attention of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and RCMP in October 2014 when he was tweeting support for the ISIS under the alias Harun Abdurahman. He also said Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's attack on Parliament Hill in October of that year was justified.

Driver agreed to the conditions of a peace bond when he appeared in a Winnipeg court earlier this year after his arrest in June 2015. He was prohibited from using a computer or cellphone - rules that were to be in place until the end of August.

However, Driver's former lawyer, Leonard Tailleur, told CBC News there was no evidence Driver was directly affiliated with ISIS or any other organization.

Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ralph Goodale said in a statement that he spoke with the prime minister to confirm that public safety "continues to be properly protected."

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 added. Enditem