OTTAWA — Two Canadian soldiers were injured in a hit-and-run in the province of Quebec on Monday by a male driver who was later shot dead by police officers, said a spokesman for the Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force.
The incident took place in the town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, around 25 miles southeast of Montreal. After the collision the driver sped off and was chased by police. He soon lost control of the car, which landed in a ditch, and was shot after confronting officers. Police later said the suspect had died. They identified him as a 25-year-old local man who was known to police.
One of the two soldiers he ran over had life-threatening injuries. Police did not say whether the soldiers were in uniform. Randy Hoback, a member of Parliament for the ruling Conservative Party, referred in the House of Commons to unconfirmed reports of "a possible terror attack against two members of the Canadian armed forces." Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the reports were "extremely troubling" but declined to give more details.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement that "this individual was known to Federal authorities including our Integrated National Security Investigations team in Montreal who along with other authorities were concerned that he had become radicalized."
A Surete du Quebec spokesman, pressed as to whether the victims had been specially targeted, said that was one of several possible hypotheses but stressed it would take the police days to work out what had happened. Canada is sending six fighter jets to take part in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq. The two injured soldiers were not students at a military college which is located in the town, said a spokesman for the college.
