Calgary man ‘seemed like a regular guy’ before he became a suicide bomber in Iraq

Stewart Bell
National Post | June 4, 2014

A suicide bomber who attacked an Iraqi army base last November was a Calgary business analyst who disappeared after his wife divorced him, friends said Wednesday amid rising concerns about the flow of Canadians to overseas terror groups.

Those who knew Salman Ashrafi in Calgary said they had lost all contact with him after he left Canada in late 2012. And now they know why: He apparently died seven months ago after detonating a car bomb north of Baghdad….

. . . .

In a statement Wednesday, the National Council of Canadian Muslims said it was a crime to leave Canada to join a terrorist group and urged those with information about “the promotion of violent extremism” to contact the authorities.

“Further, our communities need to openly discuss misunderstood concepts such as jihad in order to demystify and deglamorize the message of those who would prey upon our youth and most vulnerable,” executive director Ihsaan Gardee said.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/04/calgary-business-analyst-seemed-like-a-regular-guy-before-he-became-a-suicide-bomber-in-iraq/