Toronto police say hired gunmen are targeting Jewish sites

Police in Toronto, Canada, say hired gunmen are targeting Jewish sites in the city.

Gunfire and arson attacks have repeatedly hit synagogues and other Jewish sites in Toronto and other Canadian cities, without causing any fatalities.

The chief of the Toronto police, Myron Demkiw, says at a press conference that young people are being recruited through encrypted messaging apps to carry out the attacks, according to The Toronto Star.

“In order to get paid, they’re required to film their attacks. Who’s paying for this? This is what we are trying to determine,” Demkiw says.

“It is clear that some of the people hiring these criminals want to create a sense of fear in our communities, including in the Jewish community,” he adds.

Last week, a Toronto police officer was shot and killed during an arrest linked to a shooting against the US consulate in Toronto in March.

The alleged mastermind behind the consulate shooting was Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, according to a criminal complaint filed in a New York court.

Al-Saadi is an Iraqi-Iranian national with deep ties to the Iranian regime who orchestrated a terror campaign against Jewish, Israeli and American targets in the US, Europe and Canada, according to US federal prosecutors.

Investigators said Al-Saadi paid attackers to target the sites and required them to film the attacks for propaganda.