Prime Minister Michel also saluted “the exceptional courage of the policewomen who suffered this serious attack” and “did what they had to and doubtless thereby prevented an even greater tragedy”.
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He said the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office was now investigting an “attempted terrorist murder”. Police detained the suspect, who is said to be of Turkish origin.
The prime minister has cut short his vacation in the south of France and will return to Belgium for a meeting Sunday of the National Security Council. The attacker has not been identified. “We are monitoring the situation closely”.
ISIS is now claiming responsibility for Saturday’s machete attack on two female police officers.
A spokesman for the Charleroi police told RTBF state media that one of them was seriously wounded as she received “very powerful” machete blows on her face.
The attack Saturday took place at a wooden hut that had been erected outside the Charleroi police station to provide an additional layer of security.
Broadcaster VRT said Liege police had cordoned off an area before detaining the man.
“The attacker is dead”, the police later wrote on Twitter. The assailant was shot on the scene and died shortly thereafter from his wounds.
“Two police officers injured by machete in front of police [station] by someone shouting Allah Akbar”.
According to officials, the individual does not have any criminal convictions.
“An examining magistrate specializing in terrorism has been named” for the investigation, it said.
“We know we must be constantly, constantly vigilant”, Mr Michel said.
Belgium and its capital Brussels, which houses European Union institutions and the headquarters of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, are now on a security alert level of three out of a maximum four, denoting a “possible and probable” threat. In the worst, in the French city of Nice, 84 people were killed.
A suicide bombing was carried out by a 27-year-old Syrian asylum seeker in Ansbach, southern Germany, outside a concert venue, injuring 15 people.
A Syrian refugee also killed a woman and injured two in a machete attack in Reutlingen, Germany.
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Those attacks were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which controls large areas of territory in Iraq and Syria and has claimed numerous terror strikes in Europe over the previous year.
