Three shootings alert authorities of Canada

Canadian authorities launched an operation to capture the gunmen responsible for three shootings in the capital, Ottawa, one of them close to the Parliament, and another at the Monument to the Fallen in the First World War.

Local police stations and military bases around the country are in a state of confinement while the police try to track down the culprits.

In the first incident, an individual armed with a rifle shot numerous times yesterday in the vicinity and within the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, killing a soldier from the war memorial (Nathan Cirillo, 24 years).

The assailants started shooting in other parts of the city, including the main government building.

The shootings occurred two days after the police shot to death the driver of a vehicle that ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one of them. The attack led the government to raise the terrorist threat level from ‘low’ to ‘medium’.