3 Canadians held in Ottawa for al-Qaeda links

Toronto: Three Canadian citizens were charged for an alleged terror plot with links to senior al-Qaeda figures in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, and Misbahuddin Ahmed: believed to be born in India, both from Ottawa and Khurram Syed Sher, of London, were charged on Thursday for an alleged terror plot.

The suspects are accused of conspiring with others in Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan to build improvised explosive devices for attacks in Canada and raise money to fund IED attacks on Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

An RCMP spokesman said the accused had IED parts, including more than 50 circuit boards that could be used to remotely detonate bombs, but wouldn't say if the group had explosives.

The investigation was intended to prevent the use of the IEDS against coalition forces and Canadian troops, Chief Supt Serge Therriault said.

Farrell, a former Canadian diplomat who had been stationed in the Middle East, was quoted as saying that Ahmed was born in India, but had lived for a time in Saudi Arabia.

Ahmed, who works as an X-ray technician at the Ottawa Hospital, rented the home about a year ago, after responding to an ad Farrell had placed on an online rental site. Coalition sources in Kandahar say they are aware that IED components, rocket propelled grenades, ammunition and landmines coming from Iran have found their way to insurgents in Afghanistan.

Alizadeh, 30, and Ahmed, 26, are charged along with Sher, 28, with the offence, which alleges they conspired with three other people identified as James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta and other "persons unknown" to facilitate a "terrorist activity" between February 2008 and Aug 24 of this year.

It is believed Sher was arrested in southwestern Ontario where he recently moved. He is believed to be a doctor who graduated from McGill University medical school in 2005.

The website for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario lists Khurram Syed Sher as practising at the Thomas Elgin General Hospital in the Department of Anatomical Pathology.

In 2006, Sher was in Pakistan during the relief efforts after an earthquake in Kashmir.

Hiva Alizadeh and Ahmed were arrested on Wednesday following searches on two Ottawa properties.

The arrests follow a two-year police investigation into what is believed to be a bomb plot with a yet-to-be determined target.

The ringleader is believed to have trained in the Pakistan and Afghanistan region, according to the National Post.

The arrests were made on Wednesday as one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad.

Speaking in Tuktoyaktuk, North Western Territories, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it was "not my place" to comment on the specifics of police investigations.

However, he added, "Unfortunately, this incident does serve to remind us that Canada does face some very real threats in the troubled world in which we live".