Canada Foils Couple's Alleged Pressure-Cooker Plot

A Canadian-born man and woman are accused of plotting to set off pressure-cooker bombs in British Columbia similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack, reports the Vancouver Sun. The incidents aren't believed to be related. Authorities say John Stewart Nuttall, born in 1974, and Amanda Marie Korody, born in 1983, planned to blow up the BC parliament building in the city of Victoria on Monday, during Canada Day celebrations, reports the Canadian Press via Toronto Star. Both are in custody, and it doesn't appear the public was ever in danger.

The two suspects were under investigation for four months, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says it had the plot under control the whole time. The suspects are believed to have been inspired by al-Qaeda, but authorities don't think they had any international connections. “This self-radicalized behaviour was intended to create maximum impact and harm to Canadian citizens at the BC legislature on a national holiday,” says an RCMP spokesman. "They took steps to educate themselves and produced explosive devices designed to cause injury and death." (More British Columbia stories.)