The RCMP says immigrant, suicide bombers are here in Canada...but hey, don't worry about it!:
RCMP: Suicide bombings here seem 'logical'
Many immigrants from regions where terror tactics used, report says
Stewart Bell
National Post
Friday, July 18, 2003
nationalpost.com
In a newly declassified intelligence report, the RCMP says it "seems logical" that migrants from regions where suicide bombings occur might import the deadly tactic to Canada.
"Canada is a culturally diverse nation, with sizeable populations from regions where suicide bombing is used by extremist elements (e.g. Middle East, Sri Lanka)," the report says.
"It seems logical that members of these ethnic/religious groups would bring their conflicts and tactics with them to Canada," the RCMP writes in Suicide Bombings -- Canadian Perspective.
The brief was distributed on March 18 by the RCMP Criminal Intelligence Directorate. A copy was obtained by the National Post under the Access to Information Act.
The report notes suicide terrorism is practised in Lebanon, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Algeria -- countries that are among the leading sources of migrants to Canada.
Although al-Qaeda and Palestinians use suicide terror, the "most prolific suicide bombers" are the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Sri Lankan terrorist group also known as the LTTE or Tamil Tigers, it says.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has repeatedly asked Cabinet to outlaw the Tamil Tigers under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, but the Liberal government has refused to do so, leading to accusations Ottawa is soft on terrorists.
Thousands of Tamil guerrillas have migrated to Canada, bringing with them such LTTE tactics they used in the jungles of Sri Lanka as extortion and intimidation, as well as weaponry, notably AK-47s and explosives.
The Post revealed in June, 2000, that up to 8,000 members of what police call "Tamil terrorist factions" were living in the Toronto area and that they had "extensive paramilitary training."
The migration of terrorists out of conflict zones such as Afghanistan, and the formation of international terror networks, has brought suicide terrorism to the Western world, the RCMP says.
"The suicide bomb is the poor man's cruise missile: it is a cheap, guided bomb that explodes at the target," the RCMP report says, adding the Sept. 11 attacks showed it could be done in North America.
"To date there has been no suicide bombings or attempts in Canada," the RCMP report says. But it notes that conventional terrorist bombings have long been used, although they have "primarily targeted property."
Sikh extremists in Vancouver blew up an Air-India flight in 1985 killing 329 people, while the left-wing Squamish Five bombed hydro-electric facilities in British Columbia and what they thought was the factory of a cruise missile subcontractor in Toronto, it says.
The report concludes optimistically, saying most migrants from war-zones want to leave behind the violence of their homelands. Under the heading "Ways to Avoid Suicide Bombing" the report says Canada's democratic society makes such violent methods unnecessary.
"Canada has a long history of dealing with conflict in non-violent ways. In a society where access to the means of political influence are relatively open and there is little oppression of minorities, dissidents are largely prepared to work within legitimate avenues to achieve political objectives."
Not mentioned in the report, however, are instances where migrants to Canada have helped carry out suicide bombings in other countries, particularly Tamil Tigers front organizations in Toronto, which raise money that has financed suicide attacks in Sri Lanka.
Ahmed Khadr, an Egyptian-Canadian aid worker close to Osama bin Laden, is suspected of involvement in the 1995 truck bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad. Abdulrahman Jabarah, a Kuwait-Canadian, was recently shot dead in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities said he was part of an al-Qaeda cell responsible for suicide truck bombings in Riyadh that left 29 dead. His brother Mohammed Mansour Jabarah plotted al-Qaeda suicide attacks in Manila and Singapore.
A year before the 9/11 attacks, Jane's Intelligence Review warned that suicide terrorism was spreading globally and would likely "affect Western Europe and North America in the future."
sbell@nationalpost.com
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