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TIMELINE-Canadian man who planned attack had been arrested, released

Published 2016-08-11, 07:13 p/m
© Reuters.  TIMELINE-Canadian man who planned attack had been arrested, released

Aug 11 (Reuters) - The man killed during a Canadian police raid on Wednesday who authorities say was in the final stages of planning an attack on a major city was well known to police, and had been arrested in June 2015 after communicating with members of Islamic State.

The following is a timeline of events leading up to his death. 2014 - Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police launch an investigation they call Project Sumo after receiving a complaint about social media posts by a man named Aaron Driver, then 23 years old and living in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

February 2015 - The Toronto Star interviews Driver, and publishes a story without using his name. Driver, who says he converted to Islam at 17, says "in some ways I was pretty excited" when a gunman attacked Canada's parliament in 2014, but also criticizes Islamic State for glorifying violence in hostage videos. Driver says he has been interviewed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and knows they are monitoring him. After he is killed, the Star names Driver as the person in the interview.

April 2015 - The RCMP discovers that Driver is communicating with several people of concern, including Junaid Hussain, a British hacker who U.S. and European officials have said became a top cyber expert for Islamic State in Syria before he was killed in a drone strike, and Reyaad Khan, who the RCMP describe as a prominent member of Islamic State.

May 2015 - According to police, American Elton Simpson messages Driver and six other people on Twitter hours before Simpson participates in an attack on a Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

June 4, 2015 - The RCMP arrests Driver for knowingly participating in the activities of a terrorist group, and find a recipe for homemade explosives on his computer. He is released on bail later that month wearing an electronic monitoring device, under a peace bond which says he cannot apply for a passport, among other conditions.

February 2016 - Driver agrees to a new peace bond that does not require electronic monitoring and prosecutors agree not to go to trial.

July 2015 - Driver moves from Manitoba to his sister's house in Strathroy, Ontario, about 225 km (140 miles) southwest of Toronto.

8:30 a.m., Aug. 10, 2016 - The FBI gives the RCMP a video showing a masked man threatening an imminent attack on a major Canadian city, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jennifer Strachan said. U.S. and Canadian authorities do not immediately know who is shown in the video or where he lives.

11 a.m., Aug. 10, 2016 - Canadian investigators decide that the man in the video is likely Aaron Driver, and send officers to his house.

4:30 p.m., Aug. 10, 2016 - Driver leaves his sister's house in Strathroy and gets into a cab. He detonates a homemade bomb, injuring the cab driver. Aaron Driver dies, killed by either his own explosive device or a shot fired by police.

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