Belgian police on Tuesday (17 October) shot and wounded a 45-year-old Tunisian who killed two Swedish citizens in Brussels on Monday. RTBF later announced that he died from his wounds.
In the morning of Tuesday, a major police operation took place in the “bear cage” district of Schaerbeek. Authorities confirmed that the suspect had been “neutralized” by police. He was reportedly hit by gunfire and is in intensive care.
Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said earlier the wounded man was suspected of being the gunman.
“The weapon with which the attacks were committed has been found this morning where the man was apprehended in Schaerbeek. That makes the likelihood that the perpetrator has been caught bigger,” Verlinden told VRT broadcaster.
“We are checking fingerprints to be 100% sure.”
She said the man was in intensive care in hospital. Schaerbeek is on the border of Brussels.
The Belgian capital’s mayor Philippe Close told BFM TV: “It seems indeed the suspect has been neutralised.”
The Tunisian gunman also wounded a third Swedish citizen on Monday in what Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called a brutal terrorist attack.
The country has raised the security alert status of its capital city to the highest level, with increased police presence, particularly for Swedish people and institutions, and warned the public to be extra vigilant and avoid unnecessary travel.
A man who identified himself as a member of Islamic State claimed responsibility in a video posted online.
The attacker, who unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium in November 2019, was known to police in connection with people smuggling and illegal residence, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne told a news conference.
Sweden raised its terror alert to the second-highest level in August after Koran burnings and other acts in Sweden against Islam’s holiest text outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
The suspected gunman, calling himself Abdesalem Al Guilani, claimed in a video on social media that he was a fighter for Allah.
The shooting comes at a time of heightened security concerns in some European countries linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict, though a Belgian federal prosecutor said there was no evidence that the attacker had any link to the recent renewed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Video footage of the Brussels attack posted on the Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper website showed a man in an orange jacket on a scooter at a street intersection with a rifle first firing five shots, then following people fleeing into a building before firing again.
According to a media transcript of the video message recorded by the self-declared perpetrator, he said he had killed Swedes to take revenge in the name of Muslims.
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Source: euractiv.com
