Muslim Terror Attack in Belgium Kills Three

The alleged attacker and two of his victims (source: HLN.be)

This morning's Muslim terror attack in Belgium, the seventh such attack in that country in four years, is notable for a number of reasons:

The attacker appears to have been a "white" Muslim convert.

He was "radicalized" in prison where it is estimated that 35% of the inmates are Muslim.

He attacked two police officers with a knife, disabling them, before stealing their firearms and shooting them both dead.

He then appears to have shot a civilian dead, apparently at random, as the victim sat in a parked car. 

News articles report the man was either on "day-release" from prison or had just been paroled the previous day.

For some recent background on Islam in Belgium, see "Belgium: First Islamic State in Europe?" published last month by the Gatestone Institute.

From the Daily Mail:

Attacker shouting 'Allahu Akbar' kills two policewomen and a man, then takes a school cleaner hostage before being shot dead in Belgium while on DAY-release from prison

• Attacker stabbed two policewomen, took their guns and shot them and a civilian dead in Liege, Belgium
• He then took a female cleaner hostage inside a nearby high school, before he was killed by special forces
• Belgian prosecutors say the attacker 'came out firing' from the school and was shot dead outside 
• The incident in the eastern Belgian city on Tuesday morning is being treated as a terror attack 
• The male attacker had reportedly been released from prison the day before the attack
• Belgian broadcaster named attacker as Benjamin Herman, 36, who they say had been 'radicalised' in jail

By Sara Malm In London and Peter Allen In Paris for MailOnline 

PUBLISHED: 05:16 EDT, 29 May 2018 | UPDATED: 09:11 EDT, 29 May 2018 

Two female police officers and a civilian have been shot dead by a man shouting Allahu Akbar, which led to a hostage situation at a high school in Liege, east Belgium. 

The attacker, who is understood to have been released from prison yesterday, approached the two female officers from behind, and stabbed them several times with a knife at around 10.30am local time. 

Belgian prosecutors say the attacker then disarmed the officers and used their own guns to kill them, before shooting dead a 22-year-old man in a nearby vehicle. 

The alleged terrorist then reportedly fled to a nearby secondary school and took a female cleaner hostage inside, before being shot dead by an elite police unit. 

He was later named by Belgian broadcaster RTBF as Benjamin Herman, 36, a violent drug dealer let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday, and who they claim had been 'radicalized' in prison. 

Local news website DHnet.be reported that he had shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as he fired on on Liege's central Boulevard d'Avroy, citing police sources. 

The civilian shot dead in his car has since been named by local media as 22-year-old Cyril Vangriecken, a 22-year-old from the nearby town of Vottem. 

Videos posted on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liege's central boulevard d'Avroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background. 

One video show emergency services and police officers in body armour moving into position, another sees the two police officers shot dead in the street. 

Minutes later, anti-terrorist special forces police could be seen surrounding the area, which went into lock down. 

Philippe Dulieu, spokesman for the Liege prosecutor's office, told reporters the man had come out firing from the high school, before he was 'neutralised'. 

'Armed with a knife, the suspect followed and attacked two police officers, and used their own firearms to kill them,' Mr Dulieu told a news conference. 

'He continued on foot, attacking a parked vehicle where he opened fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat. The young man died. 

'He then continued and entered the Leonie de Waha school. He took a woman working there as hostage. Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs, before he was killed.' 

All students in the school were successfully evacuated, and the female hostage released without being caused any harm. 

Officials say they are now considering the attack on Tuesday morning to have been an act of terrorism. 

Catherine Collignon, a spokesman for Liege prosecutors, confirmed 'four deaths in total', with two other police officers seriously wounded. 

She confirmed that 'terrorism' was currently considered the principal motivation for the attack by those leading the judicial enquiry. 

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Belgium's Federal Crisis Centre was monitoring the situation. 

'Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of establishing an overview of exactly what happened,' Jambon wrote on Twitter. 

The crisis centre said a security cordon had been set up around the area and urged people to stay away. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the 'terrible' suspected terror attack and expressed the 'solidarity of the French people with the Belgian people' after hosting an international peace conference on Libya. 

British Prime Minister Theresa May also expressed her sympathies in a tweet posted on Tuesday afternoon, saying: 'My thoughts are with the victims of today's cowardly attack in Belgium and their grieving families. The UK stands resolute with our Belgian allies against terror.' 

Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region, was also the scene of a shooting in 2011. 

A gunman killed four people and wounded over 100 before turning the gun on himself. 

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based ISIS terror cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people, and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died. 

The UK Foreign Office advises British citizens that 'terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Belgium.' 

The Foreign Office's travel advice website adds that 'attacks could happen anywhere, including on public transport and transport hubs and in other places visited by foreigners'.