Bomb destroyed car, Quebec police say
TU THANH HA
Globe and Mail Update
Montreal — It was indeed an explosive device that destroyed the car of a high-profile oil-industry spokesman in Quebec, the police has confirmed Thursday, lending credence to an e-mail that claimed responsibility of the bomb on behalf of a shadowy anti-globalization group.
The Quebec provincial police's anti-terrorism squad had been investigating a blast that damaged Carol Montreuil's Volvo around 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 3. The car was outside his home in a small bedroom community north of Montreal and no one was injured.
There was a detonation and traces of explosives have been found, said Constable Jayson Gauthier, a spokesman for the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police.
The case is being probed by the Sûreté's anti-terrorism service.
Following the blast, several media outlets received an e-mail claiming responsibility for the blast on behalf of a mysterious group called the Initiative de résistance internationaliste.
The e-mail, which criticized the oil industry and portrayed it as greedy and polluting, detailed the car's make, licence plate and the home address of Mr. Montreuil.
The group was in the news in December, 2004, when it claimed responsibility for the sabotage of a Hydro-Québec electrical transmission tower near the U.S. border.
The explosive blast targeted a power line carrying high-voltage electricity for export from Quebec to Boston.
The tower was damaged but service wasn't affected by the attack, which coincided with a state visit to Canada by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Often seen in Quebec media in his role as an industry spokesman, Mr. Montreuil is an executive of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, an association whose members include refiners such as Petro-Canada, Shell Canada Products Ltd., Chevron Canada Ltd. and Ultramar Ltd.
