Terror Plot Foiled, Say Canadians

Canadian police claimed to have foiled a "home-grown" terror attack yesterday after the arrest of 17 Muslim men and teenage boys, who are alleged to have links with suspected extremists in the US.

The arrests in a series of raids over the weekend were said to have been triggered by the purchase of three tonnes of the explosive ammonium nitrate, which the police believe was intended for use in the Toronto area.

The Toronto Star reported that one of the targets was the city headquarters of the Canadian intelligence service. It said the sale of the ammonium nitrate, also used to manufacture fertiliser, was a sting operation by the police who had been watching the suspects since 2004.

"It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack," said Mike McDonell, an assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian mounted police, adding that the group had bought three times more ammonium nitrate than Timothy McVeigh used to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.

In the US, the FBI issued a statement saying there had been "limited contact" between the Canadians arrested over the weekend and two Americans arrested on terrorist charges in March who are accused of travelling to Canada to meet jihadists. No link was reported with British groups.