A machete-wielding man who wounded two Belgian policewomen was a 33-year-old Algerian who was living illegally in the country, officials said Sunday as the Islamic State group, behind a string of deadly attacks in Europe, claimed the assault.
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The assault took place Saturday when a man armed with a machete and reportedly yelling “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “God is the greatest”) attacked two police officers at a police station in Charleroi, about 30 miles south of Brussels.
The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said Sunday that the attacker, who it identified only as K.B., had lived in Belgium since 2012.
“He is known to police for criminal acts, not for terrorism”.
Belgians were keeping “cool heads”, added the premier, who said measures would be taken to bolster security for police. Two homes were also searched in connection with the investigation, the prosecutor said, without disclosing additional information.
Police secure the scene, at the police headquarters in Charleroi, Belgium on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016.? ‘We must avoid panic, of course – not give in to terror.
Charleroi police said the attacker was shot and killed, while the two victims were out of danger. “That’s the trap that’s been set for us”, he told a news conference.
Michel cut short his vacation in France and returned to Belgium for a meeting Sunday of the National Security Council. Numerous perpetrators of the November 13 carnage in Paris that killed 130 people were also residents of Belgium.
“We know we must be constantly, constantly vigilant”, Mr Michel said.
The ISIS unit which attacked Paris last November, killing 130 people in one night, is said to have picked up its AK47s and explosives in the city before heading for the French capital.
“But that at this stage hasn’t been confirmed by police, but it is being widely reported by media sources in and around the city of Charleroi”.
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The interior ministry said 457 Belgians had gone or tried to join jihadists in the Middle East.
