[News] Brussels shooting: Police shoot dead attacker who killed Swedes

[GlaD1]

Belgian police have shot dead a man who killed two Swedish nationals in the capital, Brussels, on Monday evening.

The 45-year-old man, named in Belgian media as Abdesalem, was shot in a café in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood.

A third Swedish citizen was seriously injured in the attack, which took place 5km (3 miles) from the stadium where Belgium was playing Sweden to qualify for the Euro 2024 football tournament.

The victims are all men in their 60s and 70s, Swedish officials said.

The attack began at 19:00 (17:00 GMT) on Monday, when a man opened fire with an automatic rifle on the Boulevard d'Ypres - north of the city centre.

Videos shared online showed a man on a scooter, dressed in an orange fluorescent jacket, pull up and start shooting passers-by.

 

He then chases people into the hallway of an apartment building to gun them down. Four gunshots can be heard.

Shortly after the attack, he filmed himself admitting to the killings.

In the video, the Arabic-speaking gunman refers to fighting for God and says he has killed Swedish people.

The suspect was tracked down on Tuesday morning following an overnight manhunt, during which France also stepped up security measures at the Belgian border.

He was found after a witness informed the police that he had seen the suspect in a café near his accommodation in Schaerbeek, north of Brussels, and that he was carrying a military weapon and a bag of clothes.

The suspect was shot in the chest and sent to hospital, where he received intensive care treatment but died from his wounds.

 

He is believed to be a Tunisian man who was in Belgium illegally, after his asylum application was rejected in 2020. Sweden's prosecutor's office said it believes he was inspired to commit the killings by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said the automatic weapon found on him was the same as the one used in the attack.

 

IMAGE SOURCE,POLICE HANDOUT Image caption,

 

A police handout of the suspect, named in Belgian media as Abdesalem

The country's threat risk was raised to four, its highest level, following the killings. This was lowered to three on Tuesday after the authorities assessed that the imminent threat had disappeared following the suspect's killing.

Belgian prosecutors initially said there did not appear to be any links between the attack and the Israel-Gaza war, but later said they could not exclude that possibility.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called the shooting "a harrowing act of terrorism" in a press conference and prosecutors said the victims were probably targeted because they were Swedish.

The Swedish authorities have urged their citizens in Belgium and abroad to be vigilant.

 

"Everything suggests this is a terror attack targeted at Sweden and Swedish citizens," said the country's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

He later wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he would travel to Brussels on Wednesday to attend a ceremony commemorating the victims alongside Mr De Croo.

"Sweden and Belgium mourn the victims of yesterday's attack together," posted the Belgian leader.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67131128