Canadian police killed a man on Wednesday, after the police said they had identified a suspect after receiving “credible information of a potential terrorist threat”.
Aaron Driver, the man killed during a Canadian police raid at his home was allegedly planning an attack on a major Canadian city.
Driver died after he detonated an explosive device in the backseat of a taxi as police closed in and opened fire, the RCMP said in Ottawa.
Intelligence sources told Reuters that Driver was arrested last year for openly supporting ISIS on social media. He had also spoken to Canadian media about his belief that Canada and its allies should expect retribution for their war against ISIS.
ISIS’ Amaq news agency said a man killed during a Canadian police raid at his home on Wednesday, Aaron Driver, was a “soldier” of the ISIS, the SITE monitoring service said on Thursday.
Driver was a Christian who converted to Islam when he was 17 and used the alias Harun Abdurahman. Since February, he was living under a so-called peace bond that barred him from using social media, not have contact with ISIS or similar groups and required him to undergo religious counseling.
Driver’s mother had died when he was 7 and it led to him getting distanced from his father, whom he also blamed for the death of his mother.
Earlier this year Driver moved to Strathroy to live with his sister, still alienated from his father.
Driver’s father, Wayne Driver, told news outlets that he was saddened by his son’s death but not surprised. He said his son had seemed beyond reason in his support for Islamic State.
He had hoped his son could be forced into a de-radicalisation program.
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