Toronto mosque vandalised

Vandals smashed windows of a Toronto mosque after a weekend police sweep that netted 17 suspected al Qaeda sympathisers accused of plotting bomb attacks, and Canadian Muslims expressed fear yesterday that a backlash had begun.

"Numerous windows were smashed" at the mosque either late Saturday or early yesterday and the incident was being investigated, a police official said in an interview.

A second official said he had no information on whether there was a link between the vandalism and the arrests.

Mohammad Alam, the president of Islamic Foundation of Toronto, said the incident may be the beginning of religiously motivated reprisals against the country's Muslim population, estimated at more than 600,000.

While he said he backed the government's efforts at stamping out terrorism, Mr Alam noted that nothing has been proven thus far in the case, which has gripped the country.

"Like everybody knows, this is so far all allegation," Mr Alam said. "To us, it doesn't matter what religion they belong to - if they're a terrorist, they're a terrorist, they should be punished according to the law."

Tarek Fatah, spokesman for the Muslim Canadian Congress, said he felt "a mixture of shock and relief" following the arrests, which began late Friday. "It's too close to home," he said.

The suspects, all from Ontario, remained in custody ahead of their next court appearance, scheduled for tomorrow.

Police say the men arrested on terrorism charges had amassed enough explosives to build a bomb larger than the one used in the 1995 federal building bombing in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, and were planning to blow up targets in Ontario, Canada's political and economic heart.

The arrested men, all Canadian residents or citizens, made a brief court appearance on Saturday. The 12 adults were sent to a high-security prison outside Toronto while the five youths were dispatched to area jails.