Update‘Canada will never be intimidated,’ vows PM Harper after attack at parliament

Canada will not be intimidated by a pair of attacks that killed two soldiers this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Wednesday, adding that security agencies would do everything needed to counter threats to the country. "Let there be no misunderstanding. We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated," Harper said in a brief address to the nation. "In fact, this will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts - and those of our national security agencies - to take all necessary steps to identify and counter threats and keep Canada safe here at home," said Harper. Gunfire echoed through the halls of the Canadian parliament on Wednesday as police swarmed in to tackle a gunman who had shot dead a soldier at the National War Memorial before storming the parliament building. One gunman was killed, and police said they were hunting for as many as two others. Harper said it would become clear in days to come whether the gunman - whom he called "a terrorist" - was acting alone or had accomplices. "This week’s incidents are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terror attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world," he said. "Attacks on our security personnel and on our institutions of government are by their very nature attacks on our country, on our values, on our society and on us Canadians." On Monday, a Muslim convert ran over two Canadian soldiers with his car in a Quebec parking lot, killing one. That attacker, 25-year-old Martin Rouleau, was among 90 people being tracked by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on suspicion of taking part in militant activities abroad or planning to do so. Rouleau was shot dead by police after a car chase. It was not known whether the gun man in Wednesday’s incident was among those 90 people. Video footage posted online by the Globe and Mail newspaper showed police ducking for cover as they advanced along a stone hallway, gunfire echoing among the stone columns. Watch: Dramatic scenes of Ottawa shooting caught on camera A member of parliament, Maurice Vellacott, said House of Commons security had told an aide at least one suspect had been killed inside parliament. "I literally had just taken off my jacket to go into caucus. I hear this 'pop, pop, pop,' possibly 10 shots," Liberal Party member John McKay said. "Suddenly the security guards come rushing down the hallways and usher us all out to the back of the parliament buildings." Passers-by said a bearded man opened fire with a rifle near the war memorial, gunning down the soldier. He was treated at the scene but later died. The assailant then hijacked a passing vehicle to take him the short distance to Parliament Hill, on a bluff over the Ottawa River. Ottawa police Constable Marc Soucy said shots were also fired at a shopping mall near Parliament. All three sites - the National War Memorial, Parliament and the mall - are within a kilometre from each other. "Most of downtown Ottawa is in lockdown," Soucy said. One witness, parliamentary aide Marc-Andre Viau, said he saw a man run into a caucus meeting at the parliament, chased by police armed with rifles who yelled, "take cover". That was followed by "10, 15, maybe 20 shots". "I'm shaken," Viau added. People fled the parliament building by scrambling down scaffolding erected for renovations, witnesses said. Police raced to seal off the parliament building and the office of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, pushing reporters and bystanders further back and blocking roads with squad cars. Harper left the area of the shooting and was "safe," his spokesman Jason MacDonald said. The incident came a day after 25-year-old Martin Couture-Rouleau ran over a soldier, killing him before being shot dead by police as he emerged from his wrecked car wielding a knife. The government branded this a terrorist attack by a suspected Islamist, amid reports Couture-Rouleau was a supporter of Islamic State, a jihadist group operating in Iraq and Syria. If the driver's alleged jihadist sympathies are confirmed, it would be Canada's first ever Islamist attack, although authorities have warned they are tracking 90 suspected extremists in the country. Authorities raised the security threat level from low to medium after the incident, which came as Canadian jets were to join the US-led air armada bombarding Islamist militants in Iraq. "This level means that intelligence has indicated that an individual or group within Canada or abroad has the intent and capability to commit an act of terrorism," the Public Safety Ministry said. Additional reporting by Reuters, Associated Press

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;} Police were searching for gunmen after a soldier was shot at the war memorial and shots were fired inside Canada's legislative building

Police were searching for gunmen after a soldier was shot at the war memorial and shots were fired inside Canada's legislative building