The Brussels-Capital-Ixelles police zone confirmed on Tuesday morning that one of its policeman had been injured during a knife attack in front of the police station, in the Rue du Marché au Charbon, in the centre of the capital. Ilse Van de keere, spokeswoman for the police zone stated that around 5.30 a.m. an individual attacked an officer.
The injured policeman was taken to hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening. The Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has also communicated about the incident, says that he suffered a neck injury. The motive for the attack is unknown.
A further policeman reacted to the attack wounding the perpetrator with a knife, thereby injuring him in the chest. This individual, whose injuries are also not life-threatening, was also taken to hospital.
The fact that the attacker may have shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is great!”) when attacking the policeman, as reported by La Dernière Heure during the morning on its Internet site, has not been confirmed by the police zone. However, it is thought that the perpetrator was not previously known by the police or OCAM (the Coordination Unit for Threat Assessment) which assesses the threat posed by terrorist activities.
The Brussels Times
