Two police officers, civilian killed in Belgian city of Liege in suspected terror attack
- 6 years ago
An attacker has killed three people in the Belgian city of Liege in an incident that's suspected to be terror-related.
It's just the latest in a string of attacks that have left Belgium on edge.
Ro Aram has the details.
Two of the three people killed in Tuesday's attack were female police officers.
The assailant reportedly crept up on them with a knife, stabbed them first before taking their service weapons and fatally shot them and a bystander, who was sitting inside a parked car.
He then took two women hostage inside a school where he was shot dead by police after an exchange of gunfire.
A few officers were injured during the encounter, with one in serious condition.
This eyewitness described the scene….
(French) Reuters Edit no. 2184
"We heard gunshots, then what happened is that people started screaming. At first, I thought it was firecrackers. But it really was not normal. Then I saw a person with two weapons starting to shout 'Allahu Akbar' all over the place. Cars stopped, a normal thing, and then he ran towards the school. We saw crowd movements. Five minutes later, gunshots were heard. Another five minutes later, we heard automatic gunfire."
Belgian media, quoting police sources, are naming the gunman as 31-year-old Benjamin Herman, though this is yet to be confirmed.
He was reportedly let out from prison on temporary release the day before the attack and is believed to have been radicalized in jail.
He had been serving time for drug offenses.
Local prosecutors are investigating terrorism as one possible motive for Tuesday's attack.
He was reported to have been on a radicalization watchlist since last year, raising questions as to why he was released from jail unsupervised.
Police also suspect him of the murder of a former associate on the Monday he was released on leave.
Belgium remains on alert after a series of jihadist attacks in the country and in France, where 130 people were killed in Paris in attacks orchestrated by a Brussels-based cell.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.
It's just the latest in a string of attacks that have left Belgium on edge.
Ro Aram has the details.
Two of the three people killed in Tuesday's attack were female police officers.
The assailant reportedly crept up on them with a knife, stabbed them first before taking their service weapons and fatally shot them and a bystander, who was sitting inside a parked car.
He then took two women hostage inside a school where he was shot dead by police after an exchange of gunfire.
A few officers were injured during the encounter, with one in serious condition.
This eyewitness described the scene….
(French) Reuters Edit no. 2184
"We heard gunshots, then what happened is that people started screaming. At first, I thought it was firecrackers. But it really was not normal. Then I saw a person with two weapons starting to shout 'Allahu Akbar' all over the place. Cars stopped, a normal thing, and then he ran towards the school. We saw crowd movements. Five minutes later, gunshots were heard. Another five minutes later, we heard automatic gunfire."
Belgian media, quoting police sources, are naming the gunman as 31-year-old Benjamin Herman, though this is yet to be confirmed.
He was reportedly let out from prison on temporary release the day before the attack and is believed to have been radicalized in jail.
He had been serving time for drug offenses.
Local prosecutors are investigating terrorism as one possible motive for Tuesday's attack.
He was reported to have been on a radicalization watchlist since last year, raising questions as to why he was released from jail unsupervised.
Police also suspect him of the murder of a former associate on the Monday he was released on leave.
Belgium remains on alert after a series of jihadist attacks in the country and in France, where 130 people were killed in Paris in attacks orchestrated by a Brussels-based cell.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.