SURREY, British Columbia | Tue Jul 2, 2013 4:12pm EDT
(Reuters) - Canadian police said on Tuesday they foiled an al Qaeda-inspired plot to detonate three pressure-cooker bombs during Monday's Canada Day holiday outside the parliament building in the Pacific coast city of Victoria, arresting a Canadian man and woman and seizing their home-made explosive devices.
Police said there was no evidence to suggest a foreign link to the planned attack, which targeted public celebrations outside the parliament building in Victoria, capital of the province of British Columbia.
They declined to detail any links between the two Canadians and the al Qaeda network. They also said they were not aware of any connection to the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon in which three people were killed by devices built from pressure cookers.
"This self-radicalized behavior was intended to create maximum impact on a national holiday," Wayne Rideout, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told a news conference.
"They took steps to educate themselves and produced explosive devices designed to cause injury and death."
Police said there was no risk to the public at any time because they began monitoring the suspects in February and had known all along what was happening.
The two people charged are John Stuart Nuttall and Amanda Korody, Canadian-born citizens from Surrey, British Columbia, authorities said
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