This armed man, who killed two people with an automatic weapon in the center of the Belgian capital on Monday evening, fled on a scooter. The federal prosecutor’s office, responsible for terrorism cases, was seized of the investigation and the supporters of the Belgium-Sweden match confined in the stadium.
Three days after the attack which left France in mourning, with the assassination of a teacher in Arras, Belgium was hit in turn. Two people of Swedish nationality were killed on Monday October 16 in Brussels by an armed man who fled on a scooter. A “cowardly attack”denounced the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, who called for unity in “the fight against terrorism”. The federal prosecutor’s office, responsible for terrorism cases, was seized of the investigation. The terrorist threat level has been raised to four, considered “very serious” (maximum level) in the Brussels region. The slogan, relayed by the prosecution, is “to stay at home until the threat is eradicated”.
Here is what we know about this attack, while the attacker is still actively sought.
A shooting near Place Sainctelette, three people targeted
The events occurred shortly after 7 p.m. near Place Sainctelette, in the north of the Belgian capital. On several videos posted on social networks and in the Belgian media, we see a man in a fluorescent orange jacket chasing a person in the lobby of a building and opening fire with an automatic weapon. He then fled on a scooter. “Tkings people” have been “aimed” by the attack, declared in the middle of the evening during a press briefing Eric van Duyse, spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office. In addition to the two people killed, a taxi driver is now “out of danger”, he clarified.
According to the director of RTBF, also interviewed on franceinfo, the victims were wearing Swedish national team supporter jerseys.
An unauthenticated claim video
A video claiming responsibility for the attack, in which a man is dressed in the same fluorescent orange jacket and speaks in Arabic, is also circulating, without being authenticated. This man claims to belong to the Islamic State terrorist group and claims to have killed “three Swedes”. In this protest video, “the Swedish nationality of the victims is mentioned as a probable motivation for the act”commented Eric Van Duyse.
Sweden, whose image had deteriorated significantly this summer in the Muslim world after several desecrations of the Koran authorized on its soil, decided on August 17 to raise its terrorist alert level, considering that the threat of attacks “will persist for a long time”. On the other hand, “at this stage, there is no evidence of a potential link with the Israeli-Palestinian situation”further underlined the spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office.
Tens of thousands of supporters confined to the King Baudouin Stadium
A football match between Belgium and Sweden took place Monday evening in Brussels, at the King Baudouin Stadium, as part of qualifying for Euro 2024. It was interrupted at half-time, around 9:30 p.m., and the authorities confined the 35,000 supporters in the stadium until they could be evacuated safely, said the Belgian Crisis Center. Supporters of both teams chanted “Sweden! Sweden!” (“Sweden”, in English), reports LN24a Belgian TV channel. The evacuation began slowly shortly before midnight.
“I am terribly sad. We agreed 100% not to play the second half due to the conditions and out of respect for the victims and their families”explained the coach of the Swedish team, Janne Andersson, quoted by the Swedish agency TT.
After this attack, security will be reinforced on Tuesday at the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille, during the friendly match between France and Scotland, franceinfo learned from the French authorities.
Reinforced controls at the Franco-Belgian border
While the attacker has still not been arrested, Gérald Darmanin has instructed that controls at the border with Belgium be reinforced on Monday evening. The French government activated the attack emergency level of the Vigipirate system on Friday, the highest, following the assassination of a teacher by a radicalized former student in a high school in Arras.
The French and European political class expresses its solidarity
The political reactions to this attack were not long in coming. The President of the European Commission denounced a “despicable attack”. “My heart goes out this evening to the families of the two victims of the despicable attack which took place in Brussels”reacted Ursula von der Leyen on “jostled”evoking the“Islamist terrorist attack” which hit Brussels.
“Our hearts are in Brussels, with the victims and our Swedish friends after this heinous attack”affirmed for his part Stéphane Séjourné, secretary general of the Renaissance presidential party, calling for “fight Islamist terrorism to the end”. “Let’s not let these criminals divide us!”he added.