Six people are dead and eight are wounded after a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, calls the event that happened during a casual Sunday night prayers, a "terrorist attack on Muslims".
Three gunmen fired on about 50 people inside the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre on Sunday at 8pm local time (01:00 GMT), leaving eight people wounded and 339 unharmed. While the police managed to arrest two suspects, no details were released pertaining them and the motive of the attack.
The shooting happened on the weekend that Trudeau announced Canada would welcome refugees, which was after the U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of immigration ban, that would temporarily suspend citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. The mosque's president, Mohamed Yangui, who was not inside the mosque at the time of shooting, received calls from people at the evening prayers. He added that the centre did not receive any immediate threats before the attack and that the neighbour has always been peaceful, according to Aljzeera.
However, the mosque had been targeted before for an Islamophobic attack in June 2016. At this time during the Ramadan, a pig's head was left on the doorstep of the cultural center along with a note that said "bon appetit."
In the recent years, the incidents of Islamophobia have increased dramatically, amid a political debate over banning the niqab, or full-face covering among the Muslims. It became a huge controversy during the 2015 Canadian federal election, especially in Quebec, where the majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies.
"We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement released on his official website. "Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country."
Meanwhile, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio released tweets, affirming that the New York Police Department are monitoring the situation in Quebec. He also warned the New Yorkers to be vigilant and more cautious of their surroundings.
