Quebec shooting: Canadian Muslims mourn victims of deadly attack on mosque
By Giuseppe Valiante
The Canadian Press | January 30, 2017
QUEBEC — The victims of a mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque were fathers, businessmen, a university professor and others who had gathered for evening prayers, a Muslim community leader said Monday as he recalled through tears the horror of the attack that killed six and injured 19 others.
“It’s a very, very big tragedy for us,” said Mohamed Labidi, the vice-president of the Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec, the mosque where the attack happened Sunday night. “We have a sadness we cannot express.”
Labidi said the victims were shot in the back.
“Security at our mosque was our major, major concern,” he said. “But we were caught off guard.”
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“Quebec Muslims are frightened right now,” said Haroun Bouazzi, president of AMAL-Quebec, a Muslim human rights group based in Montreal. “We are urgently waiting for answers as to how and why such a tragedy could occur.”
The National Council of Canadian Muslims called on law enforcement agencies around the country to increase security around mosques and Islamic centres.
“We are horrified by this despicable act of violence,” the council’s executive director Ihsaan Gardee said in a statement. “This act of wanton murder must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Gardee added that the council was “heartened” by the support expressed for the Muslim community by other Canadians.