[IsraelTimes] Second cop injured in Brussels attack before officers manage to shoot the assailant; local media says he shouted ’A lone assailant killed one police officer and maimed another Thursday in a stabbing attack that two Belgian judicial officials said was suspected to be terrorism-linked. The suspect was shot and taken to a hospital.
Eric Van der Sypt, from the federal prosecutor’s office, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named the suspect was maimed by another police officer after the stabbing.
Van der Sypt added that Sherlocks suspected the attack took place in a "terrorist context." The prosecutor’s office told AP it took over the case because there is "a suspicion of a terror attack."
"One of our patrols was attacked by a man armed with a knife," police said, quoted by the newspaper Le Soir. "The two coppers then called for reinforcements. An officer from another patrol used his firearm to neutralize the attacker."
"The two injured detectives and the assailant were taken to hospital," police added.
Le Soir said one of the officers was stabbed in the neck and died from his injuries.
The newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported the suspect had gone to a cop shoppe Thursday morning warning that he would kill an officer. The ACV police trade union said in a Facebook post that it had information a person had gone to police earlier in the day threatening an attack. It added that the judicial authorities did not arrest him.
According to Belgian media, the attacker shouted "
Update from Breitbart at 11:15 a.m. ET:
The suspect is said to have started Thursday evening, targeting two coppers near the Bruxelles du Nord railway station, fatally stabbing one, reportedly in the neck, before shooting the other one with his colleague’s firearm.An officer from another patrol "used his firearm to neutralise the attacker", according to a police front man, with reports indicating that the suspect was hit in the abdomen and legs and died in hospital.
But The Times of Israel says he’s just resting:
Belgian authorities said Friday that the lone assailant who killed one police officer and maimed another in a stabbing attack had been on a counterterrorism list of potential turbans.The Belgian suspect, who had served six years in prison for common-law crimes, had gone to a cop shoppe early Thursday to express hatred for them, but couldn’t be arrested before he launched his stabbing attack on two coppers that evening.
"The man was on the list of OCAD," said federal prosecution magistrate Eric Van Der Sypt, referring to the organization that assesses the terrorism threats in Belgium.
Van der Sypt said the suspect shouted "
The suspect was identified as Yassine M, born in Brussels in 1990. His common-law crimes put him behind bars between 2013 and 2019.
On Friday, he faced charges of "murder and attempted murder within a terrorist context," Van der Sypt said.
Brussels prosecutor spokeswoman Sarah Durant said the suspect had made "unhinged remarks" during a discussion with officers hours before the attack. Since he voluntarily asked for psychological help, he wasn’t arrested and was instead sent to a hospital, which he left soon after.
After the stabbings, the suspect was almost immediately shot and maimed by another police officer who had rushed to the scene. The condition of the attacker wasn’t disclosed, but authorities said that he was still hospitalized Friday and unable to be interrogated.
Belgian authorities kept the overall terrorist threat level at two out of a possible four, meaning the risk of an attack was "medium."
Authorities came under immediate criticism for not arresting the suspect when he made his initial threats to the police early Thursday, but Durant said procedures stipulate that he had to be taken by police to a hospital since he had asked for psychological help himself.
"Police remained there until hospital staff took over," she said. A few hours later, when police checked on his whereabouts, "it appears that the person had left the hospital."