Six needle-nosed CF-18 fighter jets took off from the Canadian Forces base in Cold Lake, Alberta, on Tuesday to join the coalition fighting the Islamic State group. The next day, a convert to Islam attacked symbols of the Canadian state, killing a soldier and riddling the parliament building with bullets.
As the U.S., Canada and their allies armed with supersonic fighters, laser-guided bombs and unmanned aircraft strike the extremist group in Iraq and Syria, the terrorists are urging individual Muslims worldwide to kill nonbelievers with guns and knives.
While no clear links between the attacker in Ottawa and Islamic State have been established, the carnage follows the group's September call for retaliation against Western targets, an exercise of what's known as asymmetric warfare against opponents with greater military, political and economic power.