Did the attacker’s weapon come from Ukraine? The infox is not based on any element

2023-10-17 17:07:16

Kalashnikov, M16, M4A1, AR-15? While the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office had not yet provided information on the weapon used during the attack in Brussels, which left two people dead, speculation was rife on social networks. From screenshots of videos probably showing the attacker’s weapon, accounts that can relay pro-Russian content draw conclusions without any factual element.

The weapon itself is variously interpreted: it would be an AK-47, according to a post in English last night. In the French versions, published on October 17, the weapon is supposed to be an American AR-15 assault rifle or an MR4A1 or even an M16 or M4…

Still, the conclusion is the same: the weapon came from Ukraine, and it would have been supplied either by the United States or the European Union, it depends on the versions, without any element known until now. present does not support this hypothesis. Ukraine “is becoming a giant arms exchange for terrorists,” says one post shared more than 700 times, while than another sees it as a “return to the sender of small European gifts to Ukraine”.

The origin of the weapon is not “at this stage a subject of investigation”

Contacted by 20 Minutes, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, responsible for terrorism cases, told us that the weapon used was a “fairly powerful weapon of war, an AR-15”. The origin of the weapon is not “at this stage, in such a short term, a subject of investigation”, continues the federal prosecutor’s office.

“Any assertion that circulates would be pure hypothesis and probably misinformation,” underlines a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office. He calls for caution in the face of elements that can “be exploited in one way or another by people who have an interest in destabilizing things.”

The man suspected of having killed two Swedes was fatally injured during a police operation this Tuesday morning in a café in the Brussels commune of Schaerbeek. The man, radicalized, was a 45-year-old Tunisian whose request for asylum in Belgium had been rejected. As of Monday evening, a video message of protest had been posted on social networks by a man “presenting himself as the attacker and saying he was inspired by the Islamic State”, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.