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Europe
Man Held after Crashing Car into Military Barracks in Belgium
2015-10-27
Non-WoT unless subsequent information says otherwise.
[AnNahar] A man rammed his car into the gates of a military barracks near the Belgian city of Namur on Monday and was later locked away
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
, but there was no indication of a terror motive, a prosecutor said.

The suspect, born in the French-speaking city of Namur in 1983, "did not figure on terror watch lists" and was "practically unknown" to law-enforcement authorities, prosecutor Vincent Macq told a news briefing.

No casualties were reported in the attack, which immediately rang alarm bells in a country on high alert after a wave of violence by Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
-affiliated jihadists, including a deadly attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels in 2014.

"The likelihood that this was an isolated incident, even the act of an mentally impaired individual, cannot be excluded," prosecutor Macq said.

The suspect was arrested hours after fleeing on foot from the Flawinne military barracks where guards fired warning shots at his dark colored Ford Focus, which he abandoned in a muddy field nearby.

Terrorism "is not the main line of inquiry," Macq said, adding that in 2010 the man had been a candidate to join the military.

There were no explosives in the car, contrary to earlier reports, said Macq.

His only weapon "was his car," he added.

The Flawinne military base, eight kilometers (five miles) from downtown Namur, is home to Belgium's Second Commando Battalion of 650 soldiers, most of whom are currently taking part in a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
exercise in Spain.

Only about fifty soldiers were in the facility at the time of the incident, prosecutors said.

The prosecutor said the perpetrator was "partly masked" in the attack, and was faced with "a dozen warning shots" by entry guards as he sped towards them.

Once abandoned, a military bomb squad arrived to inspect the car, which they then moved inside the base perimeter. Hours after the incident, the sound of a muffled kaboom was heard from the barracks.

An AFP photographer at the scene said the area had been sealed off by authorities, with a helicopter flying overhead.

During the three-hour manhunt, residents said police combed the neighborhood looking for the driver.

Nearby military facilities and a police academy were locked down.

A local TV station said that pupils at a nearby school were told to remain indoors, but the city mayor later said it was not necessary for parents to collect their children early.

Belgium's Defense Minister Stephen Vandeput was expected to visit the scene.

The incident stirred memories of recent deadly attacks, including the killing of four people at the Jewish museum in central Brussels in 2014 by a jihadist gunman.

In January, the security forces killed two suspected jihadist fighters in Verviers, eastern Belgium, who they claimed were planning imminent attacks on police.
Posted by:trailing wife

#6  time to outlaw cars
Posted by: Grins Snese4215   2015-10-27 12:16  

#5  Person caused workplace violence.

First it was "men (unlike women) are violent"
Now it is: "are you claiming we are inferior to you in capacity for violence---you chauvinist pig?".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2015-10-27 06:22  

#4  Man caused Workplace Violence? Is that the current euphemism?

The feminazis will chew you out. Person caused workplace violence. /sarc
Posted by: Galactic Coordinator Hupearong7655   2015-10-27 02:32  

#3  Man caused Workplace Violence? Is that the current euphemism?
Posted by: Nguard   2015-10-27 01:54  

#2  Just another gun in a gun free zone
Posted by: newc   2015-10-27 01:20  

#1  Was he a muslim, inquiring minds want to know?
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2015-10-27 00:24  

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