OTTAWA (AFP) — The first glimpse of accused Canadian terrorists in training, wearing camouflage parkas and trudging through snow and brush in Canada's cold wilderness has emerged in an Internet video.
The video, entitled "Terrorist Training Camp in Canada -- From the Toronto 18 Case," was posted online by the US non-profit Nine-Eleven Finding Answers Foundation.
It is not clear how they obtained the tape.
The tape was aired earlier this year during the trial of a 20-year-old Toronto area man accused of plotting to blow up buildings and storm Canada's parliament, as well as training for the attacks at a camp north of Toronto.
The accused was among 18 men arrested in a police dragnet in 2006. Charges against seven have since been set aside.
A publication ban has so far kept most of the trial evidence, including the video, out of public view.
"If you've actually seen mujahedeen videos, real mujahedeen videos, it's remarkable how closely they pattern themselves off of that," NEFA investigator Evan Kohlmann told public broadcaster CBC.
Prosecutors say the video shot in early 2006 was intended as a recruiting tool.
The NEFA website describes the tape as "crudely edited by its creators to include nasheed (Islamic) music" and showing the men receiving instructions on the use of handguns, sniper rifles and basic calisthenics.
The video also shows a campfire burning and a van spinning on ice at night in an empty parking lot of a Canadian Tire store, purported to be "practicing evasive driving maneuvers."
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