Group claims responsibility for blast at Canadian Forces centre in Quebec
Posted July 2, 2010 5:23 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. _ Quebec provincial police say a group has claimed responsibility for an explosion that ripped through a Canadian Forces recruitment centre early Friday.
Nobody was injured as the centre was closed when the blast happened in downtown Trois-Rivieres at about 3 a.m.
Provincial police Sgt. Eloise Cossette would not name the group that claimed responsibility, but Montreal La Presse said an organization called “Resistance internationaliste” sent the newspaper a communique saying it was responsible.
The group says it’s opposed to the practices and military ideals of the Canadian state.
In 2006, a group called “Initiative de resistance internationaliste” took credit for the explosion of a car that belonged to Carol Montreuil, an executive with the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute.
The blast occurred in August 2006 in front of Montreuil’s home in Lorraine, north of Montreal.
The same group also said it was responsible for a bomb attack on a Hydro-Quebec tower in December 2004 in the Eastern Townships near the U.S. border.
Cossette said the municipal force in Trois-Rivieres received a bomb threat “a few minutes” _ between three and 20 minutes _ before Friday’s blast.
A man who lives across the street from the centre had just turned on his computer to play a video game when he heard the explosion.
“I went outside right away,” David Leblanc told The Canadian Press. “I thought my brick wall had fallen down.”
Leblanc says shards of broken glass were scattered on the stairs leading into the building.
Around 20 people, who had spilled out of a nearby bar after hearing the explosion, had already gathered in front, he said.
“I was sure it was (natural) gas,” said Leblanc, who was scared to approach the building thinking there could be another eruption.
He smelled smoke in the air but didn’t see any flames.
Police arrived at the scene very fast, Leblanc said.
“They got everyone out of there,” he said.
The glass doors of the centre were blown out and police sent a bomb squad and a canine unit to the scene.
“We have explosives technicians, crime specialists, dogs,” Cossette said.
“These are the resources we will be contributing during the day with the goal of obtaining as much information as possible to solve this crime.”
A large security perimeter was erected around the building which is near a bus station and a large hotel.
Cossette said it could have been worse.
“It happened during the night, the building was unoccupied and that’s why there were no injuries or deaths,” she said. “That’s the good news.”
Opposition to the Canadian Forces’ mission in Afghanistan has been stronger in Quebec than any other province in the country.
A Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll last year found that 54 per cent of Canadians surveyed opposed the government’s commitment to have troops in Afghanistan, while 39 per cent supported it. Opposition to Canada’s presence in Afghanistan was highest in Quebec, at 73 per cent.
