Toronto, Mar 15 (EFE).– Toronto police said Tuesday they have not dismissed terrorism as the motive behind the stabbing of two Canadian soldiers at a recruiting center on the city’s north side.

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders identified at a press conference Tuesday the suspected assailant as 27-year-old Montreal native Ayanie Hassan Ali.

The suspect, who will appear in court Tuesday in Toronto, faces five charges including attempted murder.

In answer to reporters’ questions, Saunders said police have not yet dismissed the possibility that the stabbing was a terrorist attack, though he added that Ali has no previous criminal record.

Saunders said the main reason for suspecting a terrorist motive is that the assailant shouted “Allah!” during the attack, but noted that police need more evidence than that before they can be absolutely sure this was an act of terrorism.

According to the police report of what happened Monday at the recruiting center, the knife-wielding attacker cried “Allah told me to do this, Allah told me to come here and kill people.”

The suspect entered the recruiting center and stabbed one soldier, then another, before a group of between six to eight soldiers overpowered and disarmed him.

The attack, which the Canadian Mounted Police and the nation’s secret service are also investigating, occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon.

In 2014, two Canadian soldiers died after being attacked in Montreal and Ottawa, respectively, by radicalized Muslims. EFE