A machete-wielding man who injured two policewomen in Belgium was a 33-year-old Algerian, prosecutors say as the Islamic State (IS) group, behind a string of deadly attacks in Europe, claimed responsibility for the latest assault.
Advertisement
The IS-linked Amaq Agency said one of the group’s “soldiers” carried out the attack “in response to calls to target citizens” of countries which have joined a US-led coalition bombing the jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
The man, who was carrying a rucksack, severely injured both police officers in the face and neck before a third officer gunned him down. – Arabic for “God is great” – as he slashed at the officers outside Charleroi’s main police station.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said federal prosecutors had opened a probe into “attempted terrorist murders”, assigning an investigative judge in specialized in terrorism cases.
Prosecutors said K.B. was carrying a backpack at the time of the attack, but that a bomb squad search found no explosives or other weapons inside.
Police stand as they secure the area around a police building in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi following a machete attack on August 6, 2016.
Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers struck Brussels airport and a metro station near the European Union headquarters on March 22, killing 32 people.
Many of those who carried out attacks in Paris in November, which killed 130 people, were based in Belgium. That attack was also claimed by IS.
“We maintain cool heads and blood”, added the Prime Minister, who said unspecified measures would be taken to bolster security for police while noting that Belgium was confronting a similar threat to that faced by its European neighbours.
“We know we must be constantly, constantly vigilant”, Michel said.
Jan Jambon, the Belgian interior minister, said on Twitter that the agency that monitors intelligence on terrorism and other threats had not changed the threat level in light of the attack.
Advertisement
Also on Sunday, Belgian police arrested a man with a machete following a separate incident in the eastern city of Liege. It said the man did not use the machete and was not previously known to the police. Until returning home in July 2015, Belgian F-16s took part in earlier anti-IS missions over Iraq.
