High-profile sites such as the Peace Tower in Parliament and the CN Tower complex were among targets identified by a group of home-grown terror suspects arrested at the weekend, media said on Monday. Canada's spy agency said the anti-terror sweep meant there was no longer an "imminent threat." But police said they could not rule out further arrests in what is already the country's largest counter-terrorism operation.
The group -- 17 people have been arrested so far -- had the "intent and capability" to launch attacks, Mike McDonell, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told CBC Radio on Monday. "There is a chance we could be arresting more people. We are following up every lead to the nth degree, and any person that has aided, facilitated or participated in this threat will be arrested."
The men and youths were arrested on Friday and Saturday in an operation that involved some 400 police officers in and around Toronto, Canada's largest city and its economic powerhouse. All those arrested were residents of Canada, and most were Canadian citizens, prompting parallels to be drawn with the London bombings of a year ago, when young British suicide bombers killed 52 people and wounded 700 by setting off bombs on the city's transit system.
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