Police officer killed in knife attack

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.

According to a judicial source joined by AFP, there is “a suspicion” of terrorist motivation, but the investigators must still gather elements to support it. At this stage the investigation is led by the Brussels public prosecutor’s office and not by the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, which has jurisdiction in matters of organized crime and terrorism, said the same source.

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 would have suffered bullet wounds in 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.