Canadian PM: 'Attacks will not intimidate us'

In the address on Wednesday evening, Harper said it remained unclear if other people had been involved in the attack that left a soldier dead.

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada infantry regiment, was gunned down at point blank range by a gunman later identified as 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau from Montreal. The gunman then entered the parliament building, where he was shot dead by the assembly's ceremonial sergeant-at-arms.

"In the days to come we will learn about the terrorist and any accomplices he may have had," said Harper, in the televised speech to the nation.

The prime minister made a clear link between the Ottawa attack and the events on Monday, when 25-year-old Martin Rouleau - a convert to an extremist form of Islam - ran down two soldiers with his car near Montreal, killing one of them. Rouleau was also shot dead at the scene.

Harper said the incident would strengthen Canada's resolve to oppose extremism.

"We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated," vowed Harper, who had himself been in the parliament building at the time of the shooting.

"It will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts to work with our allies around the world and fight against the terrorist organizations who brutalize those in other countries with the hope of bringing their savagery to our shores."

'High-risk traveler'

Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail quoted federal sources as saying that the 32-year-old Ottawa gunman had been recently designated a "high-risk traveler" by the Canadian government. The paper's sources said his passport had been confiscated. Initial sources suggested that Zehaf-Bibeau was a recent convert to Islam.

Broadcaster CBC news claimed it had had obtained court documents showing that the slain gunman had a criminal record in two provinces, Quebec and British Columbia.

As many as 30 shots were heard inside the building as people inside fled and took cover. The surrounding area was put on lockdown.

Officials had raised the security threat level from low to medium after Monday's car attack in the Quebec town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, which came as Canada approved jets to join the US-led air armada bombarding the "Islamist State" group in Iraq.

The level "means that intelligence has indicated that an individual or group within Canada or abroad has the intent and capability to commit an act of terrorism," the Public Safety Ministry announced.

While most blockades in downtown Ottawa had been lifted late on Wednesday, operations on the city's Parliament Hill were said to stillbe under way.

rc/av (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)