![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755073388_375_70c8fc80.png\")
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WARNING: This story contains disturbing details. Discretion is advised.<\/p>\n
Global News has obtained video surveillance entered as evidence at a recent B.C. Supreme Court trial that ended with federal prosecutors securing a terrorism conviction in a horrifying attack on a Surrey transit bus two years ago.<\/p>\n
Abdul Aziz Kawam, 30, assaulted a man with a knife at a bus stop near Fraser Highway and 156th Street before boarding a bus and slashing another passenger in the throat on April 1, 2023. Both men survived.<\/p>\n
Security video shows Kawam walking onto the bus, followed a few seconds later by his victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.<\/p>\n
Both stood near the rear exit doors of the bus and rode together in silence for approximately three minutes, not speaking or interacting.<\/p>\n
Kawam then suddenly pulled out a large knife and slashed at the victim\u2019s neck three times, intending to kill him, according to the Admissions submitted at trial.<\/p>\n
As bus passengers are heard screaming in the video, the victim used his body to push Kawam out of the bus.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was bleeding out of his neck and he still managed to throw his attacker off the bus,\u201d said Oren Bick, general counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"Blood](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/blood-bus.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\tBlood on the floor of the bus after the attack.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tProvided by BC Supreme Court\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The knife nicked the victim\u2019s vocal chords and missed his main artery by a millimetre, his brother-in-law, whom we are not identifying as per the publication ban, told Global News days after the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt scared him to his core, he thought he was going to die,\u201d he said in April 2023.<\/p>\n
Some fifteen minutes earlier on April 1, Kawam had used the same knife to attack his first victim across the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Kawam initially approached him and asked are you Muslim?,\u201d Bick told Global News in an interview.<\/p>\n
When the man replied \u201cNo\u201d, Kawam went back to the bus stop, prayed for approximately two minutes, and then returned, taking the large knife out of his jacket and attacking the victim, aiming a slashing motion at his neck without making contact.<\/p>\n
The victim, who pushed Kawam away and ran, described the blade as being approximately 10 inches, according to the Admissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cKawam chased him for some distance, knife still in hand, but (the victim) was ultimately able to escape,\u201d stated the Admissions, and was able to call 911 from a gas station nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t a who done it, this was a why did he do it,\u201d said Bick. \u201cThere was really no disputing what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/blood-knife.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\tThe knife used in the attack.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tBC Supreme Court\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Justice J. Miriam Gropper was tasked with determining whether the facts amounted to a terrorist purpose and Bick said the B.C. Supreme Court justice found the Crown proved its case on all three routes.<\/p>\n
On June 30, Kawam was convicted of attempted murder and assault with a weapon for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in association with a terrorist group: the Islamic State.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom day one of this case, within a minute of committing the attack, he took credit for it and he said it\u2019s on behalf of the Islamic State,\u201d Bick told Global News.<\/p>\n
After he was pushed out of the bus, Kawam walked down the street and called 911 from his mobile phone, pledging allegiance to the then leader of the Islamic State.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pledge my allegiance to Abu Al-Hussain Al-Hussaini Al-Qurashi, Hafezahoullah,\u201d he told the 911 operator, who asked, \u2018Sir, what\u2019s going on?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of Islamic State, I just did an attack in the bus,\u201d Kawam replied.<\/p>\n
When the operator asked what happened, Kawam answered: \u201cYou want the war to end, become Muslim, or pay the Jizya to the Islamic State. Don\u2019t be fool and hide this message from your people because this will hurt civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moments later, the RCMP officer dispatched to the scene following the first victim\u2019s 911 call, arrived and saw Kawam on the sidewalk, still holding the knife.<\/p>\n
According to the Admissions, the officer drew her firearm and directed Kawam to drop the knife three times before he complied and was arrested.<\/p>\n
An Apple iPhone 11 in Kawam\u2019s possession was seized and later searched pursuant to a warrant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey found a steady stream of Islamic State propaganda that had been accessed over that phone over the past couple years leading up to the attack,\u201d Bick said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"Abdul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/kawam_ce371e.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\tAbdul Aziz Kawam shortly after his arrest.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tBC Supreme Court\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tThe Pledge of Allegiance Video\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A key piece of evidence, according to Bick, was an almost three-minute-long video Kawam recorded of himself 10 days before the attack, in which he spoke about an \u201coperation\u201d.<\/p>\n
March 22, 2023 was the first day of the month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n
Kawam spoke in Arabic and pledged allegiance to Abu Al-Hussein Al-Husseini Al-Qurashi, told westerners to convert to Islam or pay a jizya [tribute], praised Islamic State, urged monotheists to jihad, promised slaughter at Dabiq [a Muslim analogue to Armageddon], and discussed an operation during Ramadan.<\/p>\n
Translated into English, some of his last words in the video were: \u201cBe steadfast and continue in your jihad. May God make us and you remain steadfast, lead us the right path and grant us success, God willing. This Operation, by God\u2019s permission, in Ramadan, the month of attacks and conquests.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe affiliated himself with the Islamic State, used language that was based off of videos from other Islamic State cells that had been accessed on his phone and really connected what he was planning to do with the ideology of the Islamic State,\u201d Bick told Global News.<\/p>\n
The method of attack, a knife slashed across the neck, also suggested Islamic State involvement, said the prosecutor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn committing the attack that way, there were echoes of Islamic State propaganda videos many of which featured beheadings,\u201d said Bick. \u201cThere was no beheading in this case but the mode of attack did to some degree suggest that that may have been contemplated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kawam remains in custody ahead of a sentencing hearing in December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARNING: This story contains disturbing details. Discretion is advised. Global News has obtained video surveillance entered as evidence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[50342,49,48,2169,44,50341],"class_list":["post-84266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-abdul-aziz-kawam","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-news","tag-surrey-bus-attack"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}