Two searches have been made in the neighbourhood, the prosecutor’s statement said.
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The attack happened at 4pm yesterday afternoon outside a police station in the southern city.
A police officer secures the scene near the police headquarters in Charleroi, Belgium, on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016.
The two officers survived the attack but the assailant was shot dead by a third policewoman.
“An examining magistrate specialising in terrorism has been named” for the investigation, it said.
He said: “We have been informed by federal prosecutors that an investigation has started for attempted terrorist murder… given certain elements (in the case)”.
The prime minister spoke to reporters following an emergency meeting with top Belgian law enforcement officials on Sunday morning.
Belgium is now on threat level three out of four, meaning a terrorist attack is “possible or probable”. “We must avoid panic, of course – not give in to terror”.
Both policewomen were “severely injured in the face and neck” in the attack, the federal prosecutors’ statement said. “That’s the trap that’s been set for us”, he told a news conference.
Belgium has been on high alert since the March 22 suicide bombings claimed by Islamic State extremists that killed 32 people in Brussels.
“We know we must be constantly, constantly vigilant”, Michel said. The assault occurred outside a police station about 30 miles south of Brussels in the center of Charleroi. He was carrying a rucksack but no explosives or other weapons were found.
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Belgium was also a springboard for the Islamic State cell which carried out the November 13 2015 attacks in Paris which killed 130 people, investigators say.
