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A young Mississauga man has pleaded guilty to intending to cause an explosion, the first time a member of the so-called Toronto 18 group has admitted the existence of a bomb plot. At a trial last year of a co-accused, prosecutors alleged some of the group's members were planning to bomb sites such as the Toronto Stock Exchange, RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, the Pickering nuclear power station and the Toronto offices of Canada's spy agency, located next to the CN Tower. In an unexpected move, Saad Khalid, 22, entered his plea on Monday but Justice Bruce Durno banned publication of...

The government has been using "counter-radicalization techniques" to steer Canadian Muslims away from extremism, according to a secret intelligence report obtained by the National Post. The document outlines a little-known, government-wide, counter-radicalization strategy that aims to prevent al-Qaedainspired terrorists such as the London transit bombers from emerging within Canada. The measures described in the report range from meeting with community and religious leaders and urging them to tackle radicalization to the more controversial tactic of intervention by police and security officials. "The manifestation of Islamist terrorism in the West over the past few years has led to concerns over the...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

By Judi McLeod Tuesday, March 25, 2008 In an effort to provide them a fair trial, the Canadian government is seeking a limited publication ban on the identities of the adults charged with belonging to the so-called “Toronto 18” group. The identity of the youth charged with belonging to a homegrown terror cell is already protected under the Young Criminal Justice Act. The trial for the youth gets underway in a Brampton court today. Almost unheard of since they were nabbed in a foiled undercover operation to kidnap and behead members of Parliament, among other things on June 2, 2006,...