The investigation into the attack on a transit bus in Surrey, B.C., over the weekend has been taken over by the RCMP national security police and is being treated as terrorism.
Abdul Aziz Kawam was initially charged with attempted murder for allegedly slashing a victim’s throat with a knife on Saturday morning. But on Monday, prosecutors added four counts of terrorism, as a second victim was also allegedly assaulted with a knife.
Shortly after 9:30 on April 1, a Kawan flashed a knife at a bus driver, then boarded the bus and attacked someone on board. The victim was seriously injured but survived.
The attack was at first seen as random, but when B.C.’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team was called in, new charges alleged that it was carried out “for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with” the ISIS terrorist group.
Kawam was already facing four charges before the assault: attempted murder, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and two assaults with a weapon causing bodily harm. The addition of the terrorism charges means he could be handed a life sentence.
Terrorism charges in Canada are rare. In 2020, a killing at a Toronto massage parlour was treated as “terrorist activity.” An ISIS supporter who killed a Toronto woman with a hammer in 2020 was slapped with a terrorist charge, as was the suspect in a 2021 van attack in London, Ontario, that allegedly targeted a Muslim family.
