Motive a mystery after 'terror' attack on Quebec mosque

Canadian police today sought to piece together the motive for a shooting attack on a Quebec mosque that left six worshippers dead and eight wounded in one of the worst attacks ever to target Muslims in a western country.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned as a "terrorist attack" yesterday night's assault on the Islamic Cultural Center in a busy district of Quebec City, which sent terrified worshippers fleeing barefoot in the snow.
Police said one suspect -- reportedly a Canadian student -- was in custody after surrendering to the authorities, while a second person had been questioned as a witness.

But at a news conference today, police shed no light on what may have prompted the attack -- or whether a second shooter was still at large.
Both police and witnesses had initially described two masked men open fire inside the mosque, where about 50 worshippers were gathered for evening prayer. Of the eight people wounded, five remained in critical condition in hospital.
According to eyewitnesses who spoke to Radio-Canada, one had a "strong Quebecois accent."

Some 50 people were in the mosque at the time. The dead are all dual nationals.
Police responding to reports of shots being fired arrested a suspect at the scene at 7:55 pm (0055 GMT Monday).

Another man -- described as 25 to 30 years old -- surrendered 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside the city after calling an emergency services hotline an hour after the attack to reveal his location.
According to local media, the man who turned himself in is a Canadian political sciences student at Laval University named Alexandre Bissonnette.
The second person detained, a Canadian student of Moroccan origin named Mohamed Khadri, was questioned as a witness and has since been released, reports said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Martin Plante told an earlier news conference that neither detainee had any apparent foreign links.

"It is a domestic investigation at this time," Plante said.
The Quebec mosque had already been the target of hate: a pig's head was left on the doorstep last June during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Other mosques in Canada have been targeted with anti-Muslim graffiti in recent months.
Police stationed near the mosque told AFP that they had feared this type of attack "because it's happening all over the world.