Two hand grenades detonated in a street in Deurne last Thursday night, causing a lot of material damage. The public prosecutor's office suspects malicious intent. It was around 2:45 in the morning when the neighbourhood in the Van Heystveltstraat in Deurne was awakened by two loud explosions.
When the fire brigade and emergency services arrived on the scene, they found signs of impact of small metal particles in many house facades. Some windows were destroyed and about fifteen cars suffered damage, such as flat tyres and broken windows. There were no injuries.
It was previously suspected that the explosions involved nail bombs, but the public prosecutor confirmed that they were caused by hand grenades of Eastern European origin. A grenade landed on the facade of a house and the other on the footpath.
Part of the street was completely cleared in the first instance. Residents of a number of houses had to leave their homes for more than an hour before they were allowed to enter again.
The investigation is ongoing, with a view towards a possible settling of accounts within the drugs world. “An accident is out of the question, it was certainly malicious”, says the Antwerp prosecutor.
The Brussels Times
