‘On behalf of the Islamic State’: Security video shows terror attack on Surrey bus
Global News has obtained video surveillance entered as evidence at a recent B.C. Supreme Court trial that ended with federal prosecutors securing a terrorism conviction in a horrifying attack on a Surrey transit bus two years ago.
Abdul Aziz Kawam, 30, assaulted a man with a knife at a bus stop near Fraser Highway and 156th Street before boarding a bus and slashing another passenger in the throat on April 1, 2023. Both men survived.
Security video shows Kawam walking onto the bus, followed a few seconds later by his victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
Both stood near the rear exit doors of the bus and rode together in silence for approximately three minutes, not speaking or interacting.
Kawam then suddenly pulled out a large knife and slashed at the victim’s neck three times, intending to kill him, according to the Admissions submitted at trial.
As bus passengers are heard screaming in the video, the victim used his body to push Kawam out of the bus.
“He was bleeding out of his neck and he still managed to throw his attacker off the bus,” said Oren Bick, general counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
The knife nicked the victim’s vocal cords and missed his main artery by a millimetre, his brother-in-law, whom we are not identifying as per the publication ban, told Global News days after the attack.
“It scared him to his core, he thought he was going to die,” he said in April 2023.
Some fifteen minutes earlier on April 1, Kawam had used the same knife to attack his first victim across the street.
“Mr. Kawam initially approached him and asked are you Muslim?,” Bick told Global News in an interview.
When the man replied “No”, Kawam went back to the bus stop, prayed for approximately two minutes, and then returned, taking the large knife out of his jacket and attacking the victim, aiming a slashing motion at his neck without making contact.
The victim, who pushed Kawam away and ran, described the blade as being approximately 10 inches, according to the Admissions.
“Kawam chased him for some distance, knife still in hand, but (the victim) was ultimately able to escape,” stated the Admissions, and was able to call 911 from a gas station nearby.
“This wasn’t a who done it, this was a why did he do it,” said Bick. “There was really no disputing what happened.”
Justice J. Miriam Gropper was tasked with determining whether the facts amounted to a terrorist purpose and Bick said the B.C. Supreme Court justice found the Crown proved its case on all three routes.
On June 30, Kawam was convicted of attempted murder and assault with a weapon for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in association with a terrorist group: the Islamic State.
“From day one of this case, within a minute of committing the attack, he took credit for it and he said it’s on behalf of the Islamic State,” Bick told Global News.
The 911 Call
After he was pushed out of the bus, Kawam walked down the street and called 911 from his mobile phone, pledging allegiance to the then leader of the Islamic State.
“I pledge my allegiance to Abu Al-Hussain Al-Hussaini Al-Qurashi, Hafezahoullah,” he told the 911 operator, who asked, ‘Sir, what’s going on?’.
“On behalf of Islamic State, I just did an attack in the bus,” Kawam replied.
When the operator asked what happened, Kawam answered: “You want the war to end, become Muslim, or pay the Jizya to the Islamic State. Don’t be fool and hide this message from your people because this will hurt civilians.”
Moments later, the RCMP officer dispatched to the scene following the first victim’s 911 call, arrived and saw Kawam on the sidewalk, still holding the knife.
According to the Admissions, the officer drew her firearm and directed Kawam to drop the knife three times before he complied and was arrested.
An Apple iPhone 11 in Kawam’s possession was seized and later searched pursuant to a warrant.
“They found a steady stream of Islamic State propaganda that had been accessed over that phone over the past couple years leading up to the attack,” Bick said.
The Pledge of Allegiance Video
March 22, 2023 was the first day of the month of Ramadan.
Translated into English, some of his last words in the video were: “Be steadfast and continue in your jihad. May God make us and you remain steadfast, lead us the right path and grant us success, God willing. This Operation, by God’s permission, in Ramadan, the month of attacks and conquests.”
“He affiliated himself with the Islamic State, used language that was based off of videos from other Islamic State cells that had been accessed on his phone and really connected what he was planning to do with the ideology of the Islamic State,” Bick told Global News.
The method of attack, a knife slashed across the neck, also suggested Islamic State involvement, said the prosecutor.
“In committing the attack that way, there were echoes of Islamic State propaganda videos many of which featured beheadings,” said Bick. “There was no beheading in this case but the mode of attack did to some degree suggest that that may have been contemplated.”
It is, in fact, in the Quran where Mohammed said to "strike the necks of the unbelievers". This is not an ISIS problem, but a Muslim problem.
Kawam remains in custody ahead of a sentencing hearing in December.
