Bombing at Ontario Indian Restaurant Leaves 15 Injured

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The police released this photo of two people suspected of bombing an Indian restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, a city near Toronto.CreditPeel Regional Police, via Twitter

By Catherine Porter and Dan Bilefsky

May 25, 2018

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Two people bombed an Indian restaurant outside Toronto on Thursday night, injuring 15 people, four of them critically, officials said.

The blast happened around 10:30 p.m. at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, a sprawling suburban city just west of Toronto. Sergeant Matt Bertram of the Peel Regional Police said the bombers entered the restaurant and put down what appeared to be a pail or a paint can, which then detonated as the attackers fled down the street.

The bombing comes just a month after the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 14 more. The suspect in that attack, Alek Minassian, intentionally struck the victims in what was likely to count as Canada’s deadliest vehicular assault, the police said.

Sergeant Bertram said that the bombers in Thursday’s attack wore hooded sweatshirts and also covered their faces, one with a “black covering.” A police canine unit and SWAT team tried to track them, “but we didn’t come up with anybody,” he said.

The restaurant, Bombay Bhel, after the bombing. Mississauga is rapidly transforming from a sleepy suburban area into an urban center.CreditMark Blinch/Reuters

The bomb, which the police described as an improvised explosive device, was filled with “projectable objects,” Sergeant Bertram said.

The police released a photo of the suspects, who were believed to be two men, and they were examining video evidence and interviewing witnesses to try to find the attackers. The police did not yet have a motive for the attack.

Mississauga, on Lake Ontario, is a city of more than 700,000 people that has a large immigrant population and is the sixth-largest municipality in Canada.

The restaurant is at the corner of a low-rise mall that takes up a suburban block, at one of the city’s main intersections. The area was sealed after the explosion. Photos posted on social media showed armed police officers at the scene with sniffer dogs, and television footage showed an injured woman limping away from the restaurant after the blast.

The street where the restaurant is located, Hurontario Street, is the main thoroughfare of Mississauga, which is rapidly transforming from a sleepy suburban area into an urban center, with new condominiums springing up near the site of the blast.

Catherine Porter reported from Mississauga, and Dan Bilefsky from Toronto.