Two policewomen were wounded outside the Charleroi police station in Belgium; the attacker was shot and killed; the police are investigating, announced that both officers are ‘out of danger’; PM: ‘an attack with a terrorist connotation.’
Two policewomen were injured on Saturday afternoon when a man wielding a machete yelled, “Allah akbar,” and attacked them outside the Charleroi police station in Belgium, the local police have reported.
According to the news agency Belga, one of the police officers “is suffering from deep wounds to her face” and has been hospitalized, while her colleague “is only lightly injured.” The police announced on their Twitter account that they are both “out of danger” and thanked the public for their support.
The attacker was shot and succumbed to the injury a short time later in the hospital. RTBF, the Belgian Francophone Community’s public broadcasting service, reported that he had entered the protected area outside the police station, hiding the machete in a sports bag. Charleroi Police spokesman David Quinaux announced that the attacker presented himself at the police station’s security “checkpoint” at 3:58pm local time and immediately withdrew his weapon to attack the two officers who were there to check visitors. He explained that the checkpoint was normally staffed by two officers and that the third, who neutralized the attacker, seems to have been nearby by chance.
The Charleroi police have announced that the police station would be off-limits during the investigation. Charleroi, a Walloon city, is some 60 km south of Brussels. Quinaux, speaking to RTBF, said that the Federal Police quickly arrived at the scene and that forensic units were investigating.
Valentin Vandelook, a nearby witness, told RTL that he mistook the shots fired at the attacker as a police exercise at first: “We heard five gunshots fired in a row, then a moment of nothing, and then another three shots.”
The attack comes five months after the joint ISIS-claimed terrorist attacks on the Belgian capital in March, with the country still on an elevated level of national alert. Specifically, the Coordinating Unit for Threat Analysis (OCAM), an independent body created in 2006 to address national threats, had kept the entire country at a threat level of 3 (out of 4). Following the attack, they have maintained that level.
Prime Minister Charles Michel wrote on his Twitter account, “I strongly condemn the attack in Charleroi. Thoughts go to the victims, those close to them and the police officers. We are following the situation closely.” RTBF reported that Michel is cutting short his vacation to return to Belgium by Sunday.
Speaking in an interview with RTL, the prime minister said, “Initial indications are very clearly on the terrorist path, based on the initial witness statements that we’ve collected. I obviously want to be prudent at this stage to allow the investigation to develop, but it appears to again be an attack with a terrorist connotation.”
Minister-President of Wallonia and Charleroi Mayor Paul Magnette posted a similar condemnation of the attack and his support for the families on his Facebook page.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Security Jan Jambon called the attack “ignoble” and announced that OCAM, which has jurisdiction, is carrying out an analysis.
As reported by Ynetnews