U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen confirmed that “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” had informed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the possible involvement of Indian agents in the murder of a Canadian citizen in June, CTV News reported.
Intelligence-sharing network Five Eyes includes the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Trudeau said on Monday that Ottawa had credible intelligence linking Indian agents to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver, prompting an angry reaction from New Delhi, which denies the allegation.
“I will say this was a matter of shared intelligence information. There was a lot of communication between Canada and the United States about this, and I think that’s as far as I’m comfortable going,” Cohen told CTV News in an interview to be aired on Sunday.
The Canadian government amassed intelligence from both human and electronic sources in a months-long investigation into the murder, CBC News reported separately on Thursday.
Cohen did not comment to CTV News on the type of intelligence that had informed the Canadian government.
The U.S. made clear on Friday that it expected the Indian government to work with Canada on efforts to investigate the possible involvement of New Delhi agents in Nijjar’s murder.
“We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in a press briefing.
“It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability.”
(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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