EA police officer has died after an attack in Belgium’s capital, Brussels. Another police officer was injured in the attack with a knife, as the public prosecutor’s office of the German Press Agency confirmed on Thursday evening. Several media had previously reported on the case. As the Belga news agency reported, several media outlets also reported that the attacker was said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). The Belgian anti-terrorist public prosecutor’s office took up the investigation. The authority took over the investigation due to suspicion of a terrorist motive, a spokesman said on Thursday evening.
As Belga further reported, the attacked officials called for reinforcements. A police officer who came to the rescue used his service weapon against the attacker. According to several media reports, the attacker was hit by several shots. According to the prosecutor in the evening, the attacker was injured but not killed. It was initially unclear whether he needed hospital treatment.
Jihadists and Salafists often use the Arabic expression “Allahu Akbar” as a kind of rallying cry. In fact, it is a central religious formula of Islam that has been used by Muslims worldwide for centuries.
“My thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased official,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo wrote on Twitter in the evening. He hopes the hospitalized officer is doing well.
Several attacks on police officers in recent years
Most recently, in May 2018, there was an attack on police officers classified as terrorist. At that time, a man in Liège killed two policewomen and a student while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The attacker was shot dead by police officers. In August 2017, a man attacked soldiers with a knife in central Brussels. He was also shot.
In August 2016, an Algerian man in Charleroi attacked two female police officers in front of a police station while shouting “Allahu Akbar”, injuring their faces and necks before he was shot dead. The jihadist militia Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the crime.