Man with knife stabs soldier in Brussels, killed
the Brussels, Aug. 26: A man wielding a knife has been shot dead after wounding a soldier in Brussels in an “attempted terrorist murder” while in London counter-terror experts were investigating a similar attack on police near Buckingham Palace.
Belgian prosecutors said the attacker yelled Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) during the assault before being shot by a soldier in the centre of city which has been on high alert since last year’s carnage at the airport and on the metro. Overnight, police raided the suspect’s home in Bruges, northwest Belgium, with federal prosecutors opening an investigation into “attempted terrorist murder”, a statement said.
During the attack near the Grand Place in central Brussels at 8:00 pm , the man rushed at several soldiers from behind and struck them with a knife, prompting one of them to open fire. “The man was hit and died shortly afterwards in hospital from his Counter Terrorism Command are now investigating and searches are being carried out in the Luton area today,” Dean Haydon, the police head of counter-terrorism, said in the statement. “We believe the man was acting alone and we are not looking for other suspects at this stage,” he added.
The incident comes with Britain and much of Europe on high alert following a string of major attacks over the past two years — most of which have been claimed by jihadists — and hours after a knife attack on soldiers in Brussels.
In Britain alone a total of 35 people have been killed in three attacks in London and Manchester since March. wounds,” the prosecutors’ statement said. As well as the knife, police found a replica gun and two copies of the Koran on him.
The assailant was a Belgian national of Somali origin who was born in 1987, authorities confirmed. He arrived in the country in 2004 and was granted Belgian nationality in 2015.
Although not known for any terror-related activities, he had an assault and battery charge on his record from February, the statement said.
Less than two hours later, two British police officers were slightly injured while arresting a man with a large knife outside Buckingham Palace in London.