CANADA PARLIAMENT ATTACK

CANADA PARLIAMENT ATTACK

കാനഡയില്‍ പാര്‍ലമെന്റിനുനേരേ ആക്രമണം: രണ്ട് മരണം

A Canadian soldier has been killed in an attack at the Ottawa War memorial near the Canadian parliament.One gunman was later killed in a shootout inside the parliament building.Police say they are still looking for what could be multiple attackers and have warned residents to stay indoors. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper described the perpetrator of a "brutal and violent" attack on the Parliament complex in Ottawa that left a soldier dead Wednesday as a "terrorist" in an address to the nation. "We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated," Harper said before vowing that the attack would "lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts" to keep the country safe and work with Canada's allies to fight terrorists.

The assault rocked Parliament over and over with the boom of gunfire, led MPs to barricade doors with chairs and sent people streaming from the building in fear. Harper was addressing a caucus when the attack began outside the door, but he safely escaped. He gave his address Wednesday evening from an undisclosed location.Earlier Wednesday,23 rd October, Canadian authorities identified the shooter as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32. A government official told Fox News that they have been advised that Zehaf-Bibeau, a Quebec native, was thought to be a recent convert to Islam who had changed his name from Michael Joseph Hall. Investigators offered little additional information about the gunman. However, Harper said in his address that "in the days to come we will learn about the terrorist and any accomplices he may have had." Court records that appear to be the gunman's show that he had a long rap sheet, with a string of convictions for assault, robbery, drug and weapons offenses, and other crimes.The shooting, which triggered a lockdown of Canada's capital, came just two days after a deadly hit-and-run terror attack targeting soldiers in Quebec by a man the Prime Minister referred to as an "ISIL-inspired terrorist." That killer, also identified as a convert to Islam, had been on the radar of federal investigators, who feared he had jihadist ambitions and seized his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.

ISIL, better known as Islamic State or ISIS, has called for reprisals against Canada and other Western countries that have joined the U.S.-led air campaign against the extremist group in Iraq and Syria. On Tuesday, Canada had raised its domestic terror level from low to medium due to "an increase in general chatter from radical Islamist organizations like ISIL, Al Qaeda, al-Shabab and others who pose a clear threat to Canadians," said Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesman for the public safety minister.Counter-terrorism investigators are reviewing Zehaf-Bibeau's social media traffic and profile, with a focus on any link to Monday's attack, which killed one soldier and injured another. The Toronto Globe and Mail said sources had told the paper Zehaf-Bibeau was recently designated a “high-risk traveler” by the Canadian government and his passport had been seized.By Wednesday night, three persons who had been taken to Ottawa Hospital with minor injuries were all released.

The first shots rang out just before 10 a.m., when a guard at the National War Monument was fatally shot. The gunman next ran into the Parliament Hill building, where one MP reported hearing as many as 30 shots fired and a sergeant at arms was later credited with shooting the suspect dead. In the following moments and hours, Royal Canadian Mounted Police converged on the scene, more shots were reported less than a mile away near a mall and officials told Ottawa residents to barricade themselves in their homes as they searched for more possible gunmen.Police said in the initial hours that as many as two other gunmen may have taken part in the attacks. But by late in the evening, the cordon around Parliament was lifted and police said there was no longer any threat to the public in the area."We're still in the process of clearing Parliament Hill. It is a slow and methodical process," Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau said Wednesday afternoon.The shooting at the government complex came after witnesses said they saw at least oneman jump out of a Toyota Corolla and run toward the memorial and open fire on the soldier, who later died at Civic Hospital. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporationhad video of the gunman going to his car alone with his weapon after the shooting at the memorial. The car was later spotted parked in front of Parliament Hill, just down the block.

The soldier was identified as Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, according to his aunt, the Globe and Mail reported. Cirillo was a member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, a regiment of Reserve Forces based in Hamilton, according to the Globe, and was training to join the Canada Border Services Agency.“Our thoughts and prayers are with the member and his loved ones," Bordeleau said.After shooting the guard, the gunman ran to the Parliament building and unleashed a flurry of shots in the building, where witnesses later said they saw a man down near the library. Bernard Trottier, a Toronto-area MP, tweeted that the gunman inside Centre Block "has been shot and killed.”

Veteran Affairs Minister Julian Fantino told QMI Agency that Parliament’s sergeant-at-arms, Kevin Vickers, shot the gunman dead.“All the details are not in, but the sergeant-at-arms, a former Mountie, is the one that engaged the gunman, or one of them at least, and stopped this,” Fantino said from inside Centre Block. “He did a great job and, from what I know, shot the gunman and he is now deceased.”സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ ഭീകരാക്രമണ മുന്നറിയിപ്പ് നല്‍കിയതിന് തൊട്ടുപിന്നാലെ കാനഡ പാര്‍ലമെന്റ് മന്ദിരത്തിലുള്‍പ്പെടെ മൂന്നിടത്തുണ്ടായ വെടിവെപ്പില്‍ ഒരു സൈനികന്‍ കൊല്ലപ്പെട്ടു. ആക്രമണം നടത്തിയയാളെ പോലീസ് വെടിവെച്ചുകൊന്നു. പാര്‍ലമെന്റ് സമുച്ചയം, യുദ്ധസ്മാരകം, അടുത്തുള്ള കച്ചവടകേന്ദ്രം എന്നിവിടങ്ങളിലാണ് വെടിവെപ്പുണ്ടായത്. പാര്‍ലമെന്റിന് പുറത്തെ ദേശീയ യുദ്ധസ്മാരകത്തിന് സമീപമാണ് ബുധനാഴ്ച രാവിലെ ആദ്യം വെടിവെപ്പുണ്ടായത്. ഇവിടെ കാവലുണ്ടായിരുന്ന സൈനികന് വെടിയേറ്റു. പരിക്കേറ്റ ഇയാളെ ആസ്പത്രിയിലേക്ക് മാറ്റിയെങ്കിലും രക്ഷിക്കാനായില്ല. 
തുടര്‍ന്ന് പാര്‍ലമെന്റ് മന്ദിരത്തിനടുത്തേക്ക് ഓടിയെത്തിയ അക്രമി വെടിയുതിര്‍ക്കുകയായിരുന്നുവെന്ന് ദൃക്‌സാക്ഷികള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു. പാര്‍ലമെന്റ് മന്ദിരത്തിനകത്തും പുറത്തും വെടിവെപ്പുണ്ടായി. ആരാണ് വെടിവെച്ചതെന്ന് അറിവായിട്ടില്ല. ഒന്നില്‍ക്കൂടുതല്‍ ആളുകള്‍ ആക്രമണത്തിനുണ്ടെന്ന് പോലീസ് കരുതുന്നു. അക്രമി 30-ഓളം വെടിയുതിര്‍ത്തതായി പോലീസ് പറഞ്ഞു. സംഭവസ്ഥലത്തേക്ക് കുതിച്ചെത്തിയ പോലീസ് പാര്‍ലമെന്റ് മന്ദിരത്തിലുള്ളവരെയും മാധ്യമപ്രവര്‍ത്തകരെയും ഒഴിപ്പിച്ചു. പാര്‍ലമെന്റ് മന്ദിരം വളഞ്ഞ പോലീസ് ഇവിടം അടച്ചു. ഏറ്റുമുട്ടലിനൊടുവില്‍ അക്രമിയെ പോലീസ് വധിച്ചു. സംഭവം ഭീകരാക്രമണമാണോയെന്ന് വ്യക്തമല്ല. പ്രധാനമന്ത്രി സ്റ്റീഫന്‍ ഹാര്‍പര്‍ പാര്‍ലമെന്റില്‍ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നില്ലെന്നും അദ്ദേഹം സുരക്ഷിതനാണെന്നും അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ വിവരവിനിമയ ഡയറക്ടര്‍ 'ട്വിറ്ററി'ല്‍ വ്യക്തമാക്കി. കാനഡസൈനികരെ വാഹനമിടിച്ച് കൊലപ്പെടുത്താന്‍ ശ്രമിച്ച് രണ്ടുദിവസത്തിന് ശേഷമാണ് കാനഡ തലസ്ഥാനത്ത് വീണ്ടും അക്രമമുണ്ടായത്. അന്ന് സൈനികന്‍ കൊല്ലപ്പെടുകയും മറ്റൊരാള്‍ക്ക് പരിക്കേല്‍ക്കുകയും ചെയ്തിരുന്നു. വാഹനമോടിച്ച 25-കാരനെ പോലീസ് വെടിവെച്ചുകൊന്നിരുന്നു. 

                         Prof.John Kurakar