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Police who shot at and Tasered a man after pulling over his vehicle last weekend were likely conducting “soft traffic stops” of specific individuals, a request made by the RCMP after the shootings at the National War Memorial and on Parliament Hill.

But even as Ottawa police officers conduct these “soft” checks, they have been warned by the RCMP to use extreme caution when doing so, because police are thought to be targets of the violent extremist group ISIL (also known as ISIS).

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The man who was Tasered Saturday, Luqman Abdunnur, was the subject of an RCMP national security investigation.

The 39-year-old was being investigated by a specialized unit that tracks and disrupts criminal behaviour of known terrorist groups or people deemed to pose a threat to national security.

Ottawa police officers were emailed RCMP briefing notes following gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau’s attacks at the war memorial and on the Hill Oct. 22. In a set of slides called “Officer Safety: ISIS” obtained by the Citizen, the RCMP details the militant group’s growth, threat to law enforcement officials and use of brutal behaviour such as beheadings and crucifixions.