Body of suspected Canadian terrorist killed in standoff recovered, RCMP says

TORONTO — Federal officials have confirmed that at least one of the suspected terrorists killed during a deadly standoff at a gas plant in eastern Algeria in January was a Canadian citizen, the Postmedia News has learned.

The RCMP said Monday the body of a Canadian had been found in Algeria but would not elaborate because of an ongoing investigation. “The RCMP confirms that Canadian human remains have been identified in Algeria,” Cpl. Laurence Trottier said.

Officials said the Canadian was a suspected member of the group that stormed the Ain Amenas facility in eastern Algeria on Jan. 16. During the four- day standoff, almost 40 foreign hostages and 29 attackers were killed.

“The RCMP confirms that Canadian human remains have been identified in Algeria.

CPL. LAURENCE TROTTIER RCMP

Led by Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, about three dozen terrorists aligned with an alQaida splinter group allegedly planned the attack in Mali before crossing into Algeria from Libya. All but three were killed by Algerian troops.

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal later told reporters at least one Canadian had taken part in the siege. He said the Canadian, whom he identified only as “Chedad,” had been coordinator of the assault.

There were also reports that Canadian documents had been found on the bodies of two of the attackers. RCMP officers were dispatched to Algeria to investigate but it has taken two months to verify the allegations. Police did not name the dead man or provide any additional information.

The confirmation makes him the latest Canadian to die while taking part in terrorism overseas. Last July, a Toronto boxer and college student was shot dead while fighting with Islamist terrorists in the Dagestan region of Russia.

Others have died while participating in terrorist groups in Somalia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia but the Algerian attack was among the worst acts of overseas terrorism committed by a Canadian, bringing new attention to the problem of radicalization.

Canadian intelligence agencies have been reporting for several years now that an increasing number of the extremists on their radar were born or raised in Canada, and yet had adopted the intolerant, anti- Western ideology of al- Qaida and its regional affiliates.

The Islamist extremist ideology preaches that the West is at war against Islam, and that Muslims have a religious duty to commit terrorist violence until the world submits to their way of thinking.

The workers killed in the attack were American, British, French, Norwegian, Japanese, Filipino, Romanian and a single Algerian.

The Masked Brigade claimed responsibility, saying it was retaliation for a French military operation against Islamist extremists in northern Mali.