Belgium stabbing suspect was ‘on extremist watch list’
A man who killed a police officer in the Belgium capital of Brussels on Thursday was on a list of potentially violent extremists.
The suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” – meaning “God is greatest” during the knife attack, according to another officer who was also stabbed but survived.
Belgium authorities said the suspect had earlier walked into a police station requesting psychological help.
After the attack began, he was shot by an officer and is currently in hospital.
The attacker is a Belgian national – Yassine M – who had been jailed between 2013 and 2019 for non-terror offences and was on a violent extremist watch list.
He is in his early 30s and had been at a police station earlier in the day making incoherent remarks and talking about his hatred of police.
He was taken to a psychiatric unit for treatment but when police contacted the hospital later, he had already left, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor.
The suspect attacked two officers while they waited at a red light in a patrol vehicle near a busy train station.
The man stabbed the driver – a 29-year-old officer – in the throat with a knife, killing him.
He stabbed the second cop, 23, in the arm. He has had surgery and is recovering.
