Key PointsA man who identified himself as an IS member has gunned down two Swedish nationals in Belgium.Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level.The Euro 2024 qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden was abandoned at half-time.
A man suspected of killing two Swedish nationals in Brussels has been shot dead by police and a weapon has been recovered, Belgium’s interior minister says.
Annelies Verlinden told VRT radio that “we have the good news that we found the individual”.
She said the weapon believed to have been used in the shooting was recovered.
The Tunisian gunman also wounded a third Swedish citizen on Monday in what Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called a brutal terrorist attack.
Amateur videos posted on social media of Monday’s attack showed a man wearing an orange fluorescent vest pull up on a scooter, take out a large weapon and open fire on passersby before chasing them into a building to gun them down.
“Last night, three people left for what was supposed to be a wonderful soccer party. Two of them lost their lives in a brutal terrorist attack,” De Croo said at a news conference just before dawn on Tuesday.
“Their lives were cut short in full flight, cut down by extreme brutality.”
The assailant fled the scene after the shooting, which occurred near to where a football match between Belgium and Sweden was about to start, triggering a massive manhunt and prompting Belgium to raise its terror alert to the highest level.
The 45-year-old suspected Tunisian extremist was known to police and was living in Belgium illegally.
The man identified himself as a member of the Islamic State and claimed responsibility in a video posted online.
A Belgian federal prosecutor said there was no evidence the attacker had any link to the recent renewed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The suspected assailant, calling himself Abdesalem Al Guilani, said in the video he was a fighter for Allah.
The federal prosecutor said a third victim, who was wounded but not in life-threatening condition, was a taxi driver.
The Euro 2024 qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden was abandoned at half-time. Source: AP / Geert Vanden Wijngaert
Sweden in August raised its terror alert to the second- highest level, warning also of an increase in threats against Swedish interests abroad, after Koran burnings and other acts in Sweden against Islam’s holiest text outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
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