Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist plot foiled, Canada police say

TORONTO - A group of Canadian residents arrested for "terrorism related offences" were inspired by al Qaeda, had amassed enough explosives to build huge bombs, and were planning to blow up targets in densely populated Ontario, police said today.

Mike McDonell, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the group had acquired three tonnes of ammonium nitrate -- or three times the amount used in the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City -- as they sought to "create explosive devices." Police arrested 12 men and five young people.

The adults were from Toronto, its western suburb of Mississauga and from Kingston, Ontario, at the eastern edge of Lake Ontario and not far from the border with the United States.

At a news conference announcing the arrests, police showed off a haul they described as bomb-making equipment, including white sacks of fertilizer, a cell phone in a box with wiring, a board apparently used for target practice, a computer hard drive and army fatigues.

"This group posed a real and serious threat," McDonell said. "It had the capacity and intent to carry out attacks. ... The modus operandi is very similar to other attacks that have taken place around the world and other threat of attacks."

He added: "We must remain vigilant. Canada is susceptible to criminal terrorist activity as much as any other country."

Police charged the adults, aged between 19 and 43, and five youngsters under the age of 18, with terrorism-related offences and they were to appear at a heavily guarded courthouse on Saturday. The building was ringed by police vehicles, and snipers stood guard nearby.

The oldest arrested was Qayyum Abdul Jamal, 43, of Mississauga, Ontario, police said.

"They're all residents of Canada and for the most part, they're all citizens." McDonell said. "They represent the broad strata of our community. Some are students, some are employed, some are unemployed."

"For various reasons. they appear to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al Qaeda," whose operatives carried out the 2001 World Trade Centre bombings, said Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations at the Canadian spy service, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

There have been no al Qaeda-type attacks in Canada, although security services have long fretted about possible risks and the United States has urged more vigilance on the long border the two countries share.

US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff spoke with his Canadian counterpart Stockwell Day early on Saturday local time, said homeland security spokesman Russ Knocke.

Police would not identify the targets, but media reports said they included at least one tourist site in Toronto.

Officials said the men had trained together in a camp in Canada, but declined to provide further details. Media reports said it was located north of Toronto.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the foiled plot showed that Canada's "security and intelligence measures worked." Canada, under its previous Liberal government, declined to join the US-led forces in Iraq, and many Canadians felt that helped their country stay off the al Qaeda radar screen.

But the Liberals did send troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taleban there. Harper's Conservative government has extended that mission, despite rising casualty levels among Canadian troops.

- REUTERS