Canada Arrests Two in Alleged Al Qaeda Inspired Plot to Blow Up Passenger Train in Toronto Area

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested two men on Monday afternoon who were charged with an Al Qaeda sponsored plot to blow up or derail passenger trains in the Toronto area.

“Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police official James Malizia told reporters in Toronto.

The RCMP said it had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto in connection with the plot, which authorities said was not linked to the Boston Marathon bombings, but likely had connections to al-Qaida.

“The RCMP is alleging that Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser were conspiring to carry out an al-Qaida-supported attack against a VIA passenger train,” Malizia said.

U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, but Canadian police did not confirm that.

The arrests come a week after the terrorist attack that killed three people and injured nearly 200 others at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, leading up to a chaotic chase and running gunfight in the Boston area just hours after the FBI released images showing two of the bombers from surveillance footage on Thursday. Some reports that the two Chechen brothers behind the Boston Marathon attack were part of a larger sleeper cell. However, the RCMP claims that today's arrests are likely unrelated to the Marathon bombings.

The two suspects are not Canadian citizens, although their respective countries of origin weren't disclosed at Monday's news conference.

The plan received “direction and guidance” from an element of al-Qaeda based in Iran, said the force, refusing to elaborate. That connection with the Islamic terrorist organization made the plot particiularly significant, said Asst. Supt. Malidza.

However, officers said there was no evidence the plan was in any way “state-sponsored.”

Earlier this year, two Canadian nationals who were on the radar of Canada's intelligence agency were among the hostage-takers killed at a natural gas plant in southern Algeria when the Algerian military raided the facility. At least 23 hostages and more than 30 terrorists were killed in the January attack.

Quickie Iron Horse Roundup- VIA Rail Wreck Kills 3 Crewmen; At Least 51 Dead in Argentina Commuter Train Crash

CANADA- Three crew members of a Niagara Falls-Toronto VIA Rail Canada train were killed when their train derailed in Burlington, ON on Sunday.

VIA Rail has confirmed that three of its employees, all in the locomotive section, died in a train derailment in the southern Ontario city of Burlington on Sunday afternoon.

One of the engineers who died was a trainee. A fourth Via employee was injured in the derailment.

Thirty-two people were injured, according to a release from Halton Region. Three passengers were airlifted to hospitals in Hamilton, one with a heart attack, another with a broken leg and the third with a back injury. The other passengers suffered less serious injuries and were either treated at the scene or sent to local hospitals.

None of the injuries are life-threatening and a few people have already been discharged, Mario Joanette told CBC News Network. He said he does not expect any more patients from the crash.

The derailment occurred at about 3:30 p.m. ET near Plains and King Roads in Burlington.

The Toronto-bound train was travelling from the Niagara area of southern Ontario when it went off the tracks.

Investigators from the federal Transportation Safety Board will examine the train's "black box," which records technical and voice information. Officials say such investigations take at least a year.

Officials from VIA Rail identified the deceased crew members as Peter Snarr, 52, Ken Simmonds, 56, and trainee Patrick Robinson, 41.

On Tuesday, crews removed the wrecked locomotive from the crash site, one day after investigators had founf the train's black box. The remnants of the locomotive was the last piece of equipment to be cleared from the scene.

Although authorities have ruled out track conditions and weather as contributing to the crash, so far they are at a loss for an explanation. The track that the derailment occured on in Burlington is owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway- local officials point out that the site of Sunday's wreck is close to the scene of a 2008 derailment where 19 cars of a 139 car freight train hit the ground.

Sunday's derailment was VIA Rail's worst accident since a 1986 collision between and eastbound VIA passenger train and a westbound Canadian National freight in Hinton, Alberta that killed 23 people.


ARGENTINA- At least fifty-one people were killed and as many as 600 injured when a commuter train in Buenos Aires crashed into a busy station in the Argnetine capital last week.

The train, which was overcrowded with more than a thousand passengers, slammed into a barrier at the end of a platform at the Once station in the west of the city.

Police said the train's brakes had failed as it arrived at the station, but survivors claimed the train was travelling too fast.
One passenger, who gave his name as Ezequiel, said: "There are people with broken bones and losing a lot of blood. There are a lot of injuries.
"The train was really full. The impact of massive. I was in the carriage for people with bicyles. People were panicking, desperate to get out."
Emergency services said more than 400 people had been taken to hospitals in the city.

The death toll was raised to 51 when police found the body of a commuter in the wreckage two days after the crash. The discovery sparked off clashes between commuters and irate relatives of crash victims and officers clad in riot gear.

Public anger was also directed at the government of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who had left the capital for her home in the remote Patagonia region two days after the crash. Many commuters are angry that the government seemingly ignored a number of safety violations from the line's private operator- TBA (Trenes Buenos Aires).

On Tuesday, the Argentine government took over operations of the TBA network. Officials say the government takeover will be in effect until the investigation into the crash is completed.