Police killed a bystander on Tuesday, in a brazen suspected terror attack in Belgium, who gunned down two police officers with their own weapons, briefly taking a hostage at a school before being killed by police. The carnage in the gritty eastern industrial city of Liege began around 10:30 am (0830 GMT) when the attacker armed with a knife stabbed two police officers repeatedly before using their own firearms to shoot and kill them, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors said they had launched a terrorist investigation into the incident, which comes with Belgium on high alert after a string of attacks including twin suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State group. “Armed with a knife, the suspect followed and attacked two police officers, and used their own firearms to kill them,” prosecutor Philippe Dulieu told a news conference.”He continued on foot, attacking a parked vehicle where he opened fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat. The young man died. “He then continued and entered the Leonie de Waha school.
A woman who works there was a hostage. Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding several before he was killed.”Eric Van Der Sypt, the spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, told there were “elements that point in the direction that this is a terrorist act”.
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According to Belgian broadcaster RTBF, the shooter was released from prison on Monday and was only known for minor infractions with no known links to extremism. Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned what he called “cowardly and blind violence”. “All our support for the victims and their loved ones. We are following the situation with the security services and the crisis centre,” Michel tweeted. Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Belgium’s Federal Crisis Centre was monitoring the situation.”Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act.
The cell also had links to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the November 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris that killed 130 people. Belgium further raised its terror alert level after the Paris attack and placed the capital Brussels on lockdown for a week. The country was then hit by its own IS suicide attacks on Brussels airport and a metro station, which killed 32 people in 2016.
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