Canada police shoot dead alleged IS sympathiser

Canadian police said they thwarted a "potential terrorist threat" after shooting dead an alleged Islamic State sympathizer said to have been armed with an explosive device.
Media reports said 24-year-old Aaron Driver was shot to death last night during a police raid on a home in Strathroy, Ontario, 220 kilometres southwest of Toronto, where he lived with his sister.
Driver's father confirmed that his son had been shot and killed, telling the National Post "the police did what they had to do. He would not surrender. I'm sure they gave him ample chances."
"As sad and shocked as I am, it doesn't surprise me that it has come to this. Aaron was a good kid who went down a dark path and couldn't find the light again," the father, who was not named, was quoted as saying.

A relative told Canadian public broadcaster CBC that police informed the family that he was shot dead after detonating an explosive device, injuring himself and one other person.
They said they had to shoot Driver because he had a second device which he was planning to detonate, according to the CBC.

The other injured person was reported to be a taxi driver, but it was unclear what his connection was to the suspect.
Broadcaster CTV, citing internal government documents, said the suspect allegedly had been planning to set off an explosive device in a packed public space in a major city.

"Earlier today, the RCMP received credible information of a potential terrorist threat. A suspect was identified and the proper course of action has been taken to ensure that there is no danger to the public's safety," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement.
Hours earlier, authorities had alerted Toronto's transit system of a "credible terrorist threat," Brad Ross, a spokesman for the Toronto Transit Commission, told CTV today.
FBI had tipped off Canada about imminent attack by alleged IS sympathizer.
Police have beefed up their presence on the network of subways, bus lines and street cars in Canada's largest city, used by 1.8 million people a day.

Canadian authorities had issued a public warning late yesterday of a "potential terrorist threat," and said a suspect had been arrested but provided no details.
Driver was described in media reports as a Muslim convert with a troubled childhood who became radicalised on the internet.
"It was like he turned out the lights and put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door," his father told CBC in interviews last year with his son.
"When he was living at home, he was very secretive; a lone wolf. He didn't bring friends over, never talked about where he was going and what he was doing," the father said.