Police release video made by gunman before Ottawa attack

TORONTO (AP) – In a video recorded before his death, the gunman who killed a Canadian soldier and then stormed Parliament said he did it because of Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau said in a cellphone video that he made in his car just before last October’s attack that he believed Canada had no right to involve its military in Afghanistan and that Canadian soldiers are “not even safe in your own land.” Zehaf-Bibeau was shot to death during the attack by the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons.

Police released the video Friday.

The attack began at Canada’s war memorial, where Zehaf-Bibeau shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was assigned to the honor guard there.

Police and Prime Minister Stephen Harper called it a terror attack, and the bloodshed raised fears that Canada is suffering reprisals for joining the U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State extremists in Iraq.

“This is in retaliation for Afghanistan and because Harper wants to send his troops to Iraq,” Zehaf-Bibeau said in the short video.

“So we are retaliating, the Mujahedin of this world. Canada’s officially become one of our enemies by fighting and bombing us and creating a lot of terror in our countries and killing us and killing our innocents. So, just aiming to hit some soldiers just to show that you’re not even safe in your own land, and you gotta be careful.”

Zehaf-Bibeau signs off with a “thank you.”

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Bob Paulson said the investigation remains ongoing and said he believes Zehaf-Bibeau was influenced by others.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as network as it is commonly understood but I am persuaded that he was influenced by other individuals towards these crimes so in that sense I am of the view that others were involved,” Paulson said.

Paulson also revealed that Zehaf-Bibeau had a long knife tied to wrist when he was killed in Parliament.

Paulson said they found the phone in the car he used in the attack. Paulson said they released all but 18 seconds of the short video and didn’t’ release all of it for “operational reasons.”

Zehaf-Bibeau also toured the main Parliament building while posing as a tourist just days before the attack, Paulson said.

The release of the video comes as Canada’s Parliament is about to pass new anti-terror laws.