Knifeman shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ shot dead in Brussels

BRUSSELS A knife-wielding man was shot dead on Friday after wounding a soldier in the centre of Brussels, in what Belgian authorities called a “terrorist attack”.

The man, who prosecutors said yelled “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) during the assault, was shot by soldiers on a street in the city which has been on high alert since terrorist attacks on its metro and airport last year.

“We believe that it is a terrorist attack,” said a prosecutors’ office spokeswoman, who added the attacker “is dead.”

Belgian media reported that the assailant was of Somali origin and about 30 years old.

The same evening, in London two police officers were slightly injured arresting a man with a large knife outside Buckingham Palace but there were no immediate indications of a terror link.

The incidents come after attacks claimed by the Islamic State group in Spain last week killed 15 people and a knifeman’s stabbing spree in Finland left two dead and eight wounded.

One of the two soldiers targeted in Brussels was “slightly” wounded, according to federal prosecutors, who have opened a terror probe of the attack.

“All our support for our military,” tweeted Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. “Our security services remain attentive, we are monitoring the situation closely with the crisis centre,” he added.

LONDON ATTACKER

HAD A ‘4-FOOT SWORD’

A man arrested under the Terrorism Act after deliberately driving at police outside Queen Elizabeth II’s Buckingham Palace residence in London had a “four-foot sword” in his car, police said on Saturday.

Upon being challenged by officers, the 26-year-old attacker “reached for what we now know to be a four-foot sword which was in the front passenger foot well,” the police statement said.

“The man, who shouted Allahu akbar (God is greatest), was incapacitated with CS spray”. Three unarmed officers were injured during the course of detaining the man, two of them requiring hospital treatment.