Canada explores terror charges after man kills four of a Muslim family

A Canadian driving a pick-up truck slammed into a Muslim family in London, Ontario in what police say was an attack “motivated by hate”.

A man driving a pick-up truck slammed into a Muslim family in Canada's Ontario province, killing four members and wounding the fifth in a terror attack that police and officials confirm was premeditated and motivated by anti-Islam hatred.

Local police are working with federal police and prosecutors to see whether the killing can constitute a terror attack.

The attacker wearing a vest "like body armor" fled the scene on Sunday evening, and was arrested at a mall seven kilometers (four miles) from the intersection in London, Ontario where the attack happened, said Detective Superintendent Paul Waight on Monday.

"There is evidence that this was a planned, premeditated act, motivated by hate. It is believed that these victims were targeted because they were Muslim," he told a news conference.

Canada's Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair described it as a "horrific act of Islamophobia."

"They believe the family was targeted because of their faith, and that the attacker was motivated by his hatred of Muslims," he said.

The extended family issued a statement identifying the dead as Madiha Afzal, 44; her husband Salman Afzal, 46;  their daughter Yumna, 15; and a 74-year-old grandmother whose name was withheld. The hospitalized boy was identified as Fayez.