Canada reels after apparent Islamophobic truck attack

A targeted attack in which four members of a Muslim family were killed when a man driving a pickup truck plowed into them has caused fear in Canada, a country where immigrants are largely accepted.

The killings drew denunciations on Tuesday from Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who called it a hate crime directed at Muslims.

The victims - a couple, their two children and a grandmother - were on an evening walk when the driver of the truck struck them at an intersection in London, Ontario province, on Sunday. The sole survivor was a 9-year-old boy, who was admitted to hospital.

"This was a terrorist attack, motivated by hatred, in the heart of one of our communities," Trudeau told Parliament. "If anyone thinks racism and hatred don't exist in this country, I want to say this: How do we explain such violence to a child in a hospital? How can we look families in the eye and say 'Islamophobia isn't real'"?

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Twitter that Sunday's attack reveals the growing Islamophobia in Western countries.

The victims' extended family issued a statement identifying the dead as Salman Afzal, 46, his wife Madiha, 44, and their daughter Yumna, 15, along with a 74-year-old grandmother whose name was withheld. The hospitalized boy was identified as the couple's son, Fayez. Friends said the family emigrated to Canada 14 years ago.

Police arrested the suspect, Nathaniel Veltman, 20, in a parking lot at a nearby mall. He was wearing a vest with a form of body armor. Veltman, who is white, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Everyone who knew the Afzal family regarded them as "the model family they were as Muslims, Canadians and Pakistanis", the statement from the extended family said.

"They worked extremely hard in their fields and excelled. Their children were top students in their school and connected strongly with their spiritual identity."

A fundraising webpage said Salman Afzal was a physiotherapist and cricket enthusiast and Madiha was working on a doctorate in civil engineering at Western University in London. Their daughter was finishing ninth grade, and the grandmother was a "pillar" of the family, the page said.

Thousands of mourners including Trudeau and the leaders of all of Canada's political parties attended a vigil on Tuesday.

"There are no words that can ease the grief of having three generations murdered in their neighborhood," Trudeau told the crowd.

Agencies and Rena Li in Toronto contributed to this story.