Gunman in Canada attack once complained about mosque being too liberal
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The gunman who shot and killed a soldier in plain daylight then stormed Canada’s Parliament once complained that a Vancouver mosque he attended was too liberal and inclusive, and was kicked out after he repeatedly spent the night there even though officials told him to stop, Muslim leaders said Friday.
Aasim Rashid, spokesman for the British Columbia Muslim Association, said Michael Zehaf-Bibeau visited the Masjid Al-Salaam mosque for three to four months toward the end of 2011, and possibly early 2012, before he was told not to come back.
Rashid said that before Zehaf-Bibeau got in trouble for using the mosque for accommodations, he had complained to leaders in the previous administration about the mosque’s openness and willingness to let non-Muslims visit.
“The mosque administration sat him down and explained to him that this is how they run the mosque and that they will keep the doors open to all Muslims and non-Muslims who want to visit,” he said at a news conference held at the mosque Friday.
Rashid said that Zehaf-Bibeau was told he should go pray at a different mosque if he disagreed. However, he stayed until he was ultimately asked to leave when officials learned he was still sleeping in the mosque while battling legal troubles.
New evidence that Islamic State extremist group is using chlorine bombs
MURSITPINAR, Turkey — New allegations have emerged that Islamic State extremists have expanded their arsenal with chlorine bombs and captured fighter jets — weapons that could help the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Kurdish fighters in the key Syrian border town of Kobani have held off a monthlong offensive by the Islamic State group with the help of a U.S.-led campaign of airstrikes.
Turkey’s president said he will allow Syrian rebels to transit through his country to help the town’s beleaguered defenders, but both the Kurds and the rebels denied any such plan was in the works, underscoring differences over strategy that are hindering efforts to roll back the extremists.
In Iraq, officials said Islamic State militants used chlorine gas during fighting with security forces and Shiite militiamen last month north of Baghdad. If the reports are confirmed, it would be the first time the Sunni extremists tried to use chlorine since their seizure of large parts of Syria and northern Iraq earlier this year.
The statements in Iraq came two days after Kurdish officials and doctors said they believed IS militants had released some kind of toxic gas in an eastern district of Kobani. Aysa Abdullah, a senior Kurdish official based in the town, mentioned the attack took place late Tuesday and that some people suffered symptoms that included dizziness and watery eyes. She and other officials said doctors lacked the equipment to establish what kinds of chemicals were used.
Egypt declares a state of emergency in northern Sinai, after attack kills 30
EL-ARISH, Egypt — A coordinated assault on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula killed 30 Egyptian troops on Friday, making it the deadliest single attack in decades on the military, which has been struggling to stem a wave of violence by Islamic extremists since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Officials described it as “well-planned” attack that began with a car bomb which may have been set off by a suicide attacker. Other militants then fired rocket-propelled grenades, striking a tank carrying ammunition and igniting a secondary explosion. Roadside bombs intended to target rescuers struck two army vehicles, seriously wounding a senior officer.
State-run TV said clashes between troops and militants followed the bombing, without providing further details. The car bomb exploded at the checkpoint at around 3:30 p.m. Cairo time, and took place some 9 miles from the northern Sinai city of el-Arish, in an area called Karm el-Qawadees.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but officials said the assault bore the hallmarks of the country’s most active militant group — named Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem — which has claimed a string of past attacks on security forces.
The officials said the death toll is expected to rise because 28 people were wounded and several were in critical condition.
By wire sources