rfmcdonald | [LINK] "Canadians in Algerian gas plant attack identified" (Reply)

This is somewhat surprising news. (The CBC's Greg Weston did the report.)

CBC News has learned that two Canadians linked to al-Qaeda and killed while staging a bloody attack on an Algerian gas refinery earlier this year were former high school friends in their early 20s, one from a Greek Orthodox family, and both from a comfortable middle-class London, Ont., neighbourhood.

A special CBC News investigation has confirmed the two al-Qaeda linked militants are Xristos Katsiroubas and Ali Medlej, both believed to be under 24 years old.

The attack by the two Canadians and 30 other militants linked to al-Qaeda left more than three dozen refinery workers dead, the final 10 of whom were reportedly tied to gas plant piping and killed in a massive bomb blast.

Sources say it is likely Katsiroubas and Medlej intentionally blew themselves up in the blast; only one of them could be identified by DNA testing.

The Harper government at first denied there was any evidence Canadians had been involved in the attack, and the RCMP have continued to keep the identities of the pair a tight secret.

Now sources tell CBC News there may have been more than just the duo.

Sources say at least two more former London schoolmates of Katsiroubas and Medlej also travelled overseas with them.

But it is not yet clear whether the others are still alive, nor if they were involved in the Algerian gas plant attack.