Gunman kills 3 in Belgium
Suspect showed signs of Islamist motives
LIEGE: Belgian police were yesterday investigating how a gunman on their own watchlist for contacts with Islamist extremists came to launch a brazen suspected terror attack, shooting dead two female officers with their own weapons before killing a bystander.
The bloodshed in the eastern industrial city of Liege began around 10.30am local time on Tuesday when the attacker armed with a knife repeatedly stabbed the two policewomen before using their own firearms to kill them.
Federal prosecutors said they had launched a terror investigation into the incident and would hold a press conference later yesterday.
“The signs are pointing towards a terrorist act,” prosecutor spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said.
Amateur footage showed the gunman shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) as he walked through the streets during the rampage.
In another video, a short and intense burst of gunfire is audible, after which the man lies on the ground.
“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. He took a woman working there as hostage. Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding several before he was killed.”
Belgium remains on high alert after a string of attacks including twin suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State group.
A source close to the investigation said that the gunman was on a special police watchlist because of his contacts with radical Islamists.
The source named the attacker as Benjamin Herman, born in 1982, saying he had past convictions for robbery, violence and drug dealing.
Herman was “already on the run” after committing another murder on Monday night in the town of On, in southern Belgium, the source said, though local prosecutors said they have not yet established a link with the Liege incident.
Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported he had been released from prison on Monday.
“He is suspected of having been radicalised [in prison] … He has been reported or presumed to be belonging to the entourage of an Islamist recruiter,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Liege police chief Christian Beaupere said it was “clear that the assassin’s objective was to attack the police”. One of the four officers wounded had suffered a serious leg injury, he added.
Liege saw another bloody shootout in 2011 when an ex-con killed six people.