Terrorism suspected in Belgium rampage
Two female officers knifed and killed with own guns before trainee teacher shot dead in Belgian city centre
A suspected terrorist on day release from prison shot dead two female police officers with their own guns as well as a trainee teacher before he was killed in a shootout at a school in the centre of the Belgian city of Liege. The bloody rampage yesterday morning, that left another four officers wounded, was captured on videos on social media, which showed the black-clad man waving a pistol in each hand and shouting “Allahu akbar” before being gunned down.
A SUSPECTED terrorist on day release from prison stabbed two female police officers before killing them with their own guns in the Belgian city of Liege.
He then shot dead a 22-year-old trainee teacher sitting in a car nearby before he was killed in a shoot-out with police at a school.
Yesterday morning’s bloody rampage, which left another four officers wounded, was captured on videos on social media, showing the man clad in black waving a pistol in each hand and shouting “Allahu akbar” before he was gunned down by elite officers.
The lone attacker, named as Benjamin Herman, 36, was well known to police for a string of crimes including robbery, assault and drug-dealing and was from Rochefort, a city about an hour’s drive from Liege.
One dead officer was named in local media reports as Soraya Belkacemi, a widowed mother of twins.
The other was Lucile Garcia, who was described by fellow officers as a “fantastic colleague” who had married her partner a month ago.
Herman was granted temporary release from prison on Monday night, despite a prison service assessment that judged him “ultra-violent” and that he was on a watch list over suspicions he had become radicalised in 2017.
Such “family leave” is meant to help prisoners prepare for their eventual release, which would have been in 2020 in Herman’s case after he had served the sentence he began in 2013. He had been released for two days on 13 previous occasions.
Belgium’s federal prosecutors office has opened a terror investigation into the murders, which comes after the country was accused of being a hotbed of extremism after the 2015 Paris attacks, which killed 130 people, and suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died. Belgian intelligence services have come under intense scrutiny for apparently missing a series of leads after the Paris attacks that could have found the Brussels bombers.
“He has been reported or presumed to be belonging to the entourage of an Islamist recruiter,” a source close to the investigation said. Police have found a Koran and prayer mat in the convert’s cell. Confirming that the attacker was on the police watch list, George Dallemagne, a lawmaker who sits on several Belgian parliamentary security committees, wrote on Twitter: “The supervision of radicalised prisoners remains tragically flawed.”
Christian Beaupere, the head of the Liege police force, said: “It is clear that the assassin’s objective was to attack the police.”
The Liege prosecutor’s office said the gunman had “hunted down” the two police officers, who were checking parking meters, before attacking them from behind with a box cutter on a boulevard in the heart of Belgium’s third city at about 10.30am local time.
After stabbing the officers, aged 45 and 53, multiple times, Herman took the officers’ guns and shot them dead before opening fire on his next victim, who was reportedly sitting in the passenger seat of his mother’s car.
He was named by local press as Cyril Vangriecken, 22, a trainee teacher from Vottem, a nearby town. Herman entered a nearby high school about 100 yards away and took hostage two female employees, one a cleaning lady.
Pupils were evacuated to safety and people raced for cover in the ensuing gun battle when Herman came out firing at police. Four officers were wounded, two in the legs and two in
‘It is clear that the assassin’s objective was to attack the police’
the arms, before Herman was finally shot about 30 minutes after he launched his initial attack. The cleaner was reported to be “safe and healthy”. A security cordon was set up around the area, while panicked parents came to collect their unhurt children.
The national crisis centre said it had not raised its alert level – an indication the man was believed to be acting alone and so follow-up attacks were not expected. Herman was “already on the run” after committing another murder on Monday night in the town of On, in southern Belgium, a source told AFP, though local prosecutors said they have not yet established a link with the Liege incident.
The body of a man shot in the head was found after a jewellery robbery in Rochefort earlier that evening.
Charles Michel, the prime minister, condemned the “blind and cowardly violence” in Liege and offered his support for the victims and their families. He called for restraint after images on social media appeared to show the two officers lying feet apart in pools of blood outside a café.
Theresa May said: “My thoughts are with the victims of the cowardly attack in Belgium and their grieving families. The UK stands resolute with our Belgian allies against terror.”