The incident, which took place at around 8.20pm in the central Boulevard Émile Jacqmain, saw three soldiers being attacked.
The culprit himself appeared in the streets of the capital carrying a machete and two Quran books.
Whilst shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest” in Arabic) during the assault, the attacker was killed by one of the soldiers who launched fire on him and hit him twice. Due to his injuries, the shot man later died in hospital.
As for the soldiers, it has been reported that two of the troops were slightly injured and only one was confirmed to be wounded.
According to the Belgium federal prosecutor office, the man has had no previous links to terrorism, although police are classifying what has happened as an extremist incident.
The attacker has not been named by officials but it has been confirmed that he had arrived in Belgium from Somalia in 2004 and became a European national two years ago.
Following the incident, police searched the man’s home in Bruges overnight, with the intention of unravelling his motives and discovering any potential terrorist networks that he might have been engaged in.
Despite what had happened, Belgium’s terror threat level has not been changed. As of right now, the nation is now at its second highest threat level of 3, which stands for a “serious and real threat” but no forthcoming attacks are said to be anticipated.
Friday night’s incident in the Belgian capital emerged just an hour before two police officers were attacked outside Buckingham Palace in London.
Therefore, given what has similarly happened in the past across Europe, a conclusion has been drawn that soldiers and police being targeted by terrorists acting on their own is seeming to be a growing trend.
In wake of the attack, prime minister of Belgium Charles Michel praised the country’s soldiers, stating:
“Our security services remain vigilant. We are following the situation closely with the Belgian crisis centre,”
The nation of Brussels is currently undergoing a large-scale security operation following the recent terror attacks in the Belgian capital.
In March 2016, a series of suicide bombings (two at Brussels Airport and one at Maalbeek metro station) claimed 32 lives. Furthermore, in June, a soldier instantly shot dead a man who had tried to conduct an explosion at Brussels train station.
Sources – BBC News, The Independent, The Guardian
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