A policeman succumbed to his injuries after being attacked with a knife on Thursday evening in Brussels, the Belgian capital’s public prosecutor’s office told the Belga news agency.
The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, which has jurisdiction over terrorism, was seized Thursday evening of the investigation into the attack, a spokesman for the prosecution told AFP. “We have taken over the file because there is a suspicion of a terrorist motive, which will of course have to be confirmed or invalidated by the investigation”, declared this spokesperson, Eric Van Duyse.
The alleged attacker was injured and is hospitalized. The facts occurred around 7:15 p.m. in the Brussels municipality of Schaerbeek, in the Gare du Nord district.
For a reason that remains to be clarified, a man armed with a knife attacked a patrol of two policemen, beating them. The latter then called for reinforcements and an agent from another patrol used his firearm to “neutralize the aggressor”, according to Belga. According to several media, the suspect suffered gunshot wounds to the legs and abdomen. He was taken to hospital along with the two injured police officers. One of the two, hit in the neck, did not survive.