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2018 Liège attack
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2018 Liège attack
On 29 May 2018, Benjamin Herman, a prisoner on temporary leave from prison, stabbed two female police officers, took their guns, shot and killed them and a civilian in Liège, Belgium. The gunman took a woman hostage before he was killed by police. The attacker had since 2017 been suspected of having been radicalised in prison after converting to Islam, and was reported to be part of the entourage of a prison Islamist recruiter. The method of the attack was said by investigators to match and be specifically encouraged by the Islamic State which claimed the attack. Prosecutors say they are treating the attacks as "terrorist murder". The attack is treated as "jihadist terrorism" by Europol.
Recent stabbing attacks on police officers in Belgium have included the 2016 stabbing of Brussels police officers, the 2016 stabbing of Charleroi police officers and the stabbing of two officers on 7 September 2016 in Molenbeek.
Belgium, which had been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State (IS) cell was involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks and the March 2016 Brussels bombings that killed 32 people, lowered its alert level in January 2018 citing the defeat of ISIS and a reduction in the number of people coming to Belgium from Syria.
The Belgian parliament issued a report in 2018 warning that convicts in the country had been behind several recent attacks in Europe and further expressed concerns that hundreds of prisoners deemed radical by authorities are due to be released in the coming years.[citation needed]
At about 10:30, outside the Aux Augustins café in Liege's city centre, the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar", according to Federal Magistrate Wenke Rogen and according to a video reported by La Repubblica. He was armed with a knife that he used to stab two female officers, Lucile Garcia and Soraya Belkacemi, from behind as they were checking parking meters. He took one of the officers' handguns (he was later pictured with two handguns) and fatally shot the officers. A 22-year-old male, Cyril Vangriecken, was also killed in an attempted car-jacking before the perpetrator went into the Athénée de Waha high school and tried to take a female cleaner hostage who was left unharmed after she told the attacker that she was a Muslim who observed Ramadan, and persuaded him to not harm the pupils. All the students had been evacuated to the nearby Botanical Garden.
The perpetrator then left the school and shot two police officers in the leg, leaving one officer in a serious condition. Two other officers received injuries to their arms before the attacker was shot dead when the police returned fire.
Catherine Collignon, a spokesman for the Liège prosecutors, confirmed the deaths of four people, including the assailant. She later claimed the attack matched the style of similar IS-inspired attacks and told a press conference the attack "qualified as terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder."
A terrorism investigation was launched after the attack. The method of the attack, repeatedly stabbing the policewomen before using their own firearms to kill them, while shouting "Allahu Akbar", was said by investigators to be specifically encouraged by the Islamic State.
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2018 Liège attack
On 29 May 2018, Benjamin Herman, a prisoner on temporary leave from prison, stabbed two female police officers, took their guns, shot and killed them and a civilian in Liège, Belgium. The gunman took a woman hostage before he was killed by police. The attacker had since 2017 been suspected of having been radicalised in prison after converting to Islam, and was reported to be part of the entourage of a prison Islamist recruiter. The method of the attack was said by investigators to match and be specifically encouraged by the Islamic State which claimed the attack. Prosecutors say they are treating the attacks as "terrorist murder". The attack is treated as "jihadist terrorism" by Europol.
Recent stabbing attacks on police officers in Belgium have included the 2016 stabbing of Brussels police officers, the 2016 stabbing of Charleroi police officers and the stabbing of two officers on 7 September 2016 in Molenbeek.
Belgium, which had been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State (IS) cell was involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks and the March 2016 Brussels bombings that killed 32 people, lowered its alert level in January 2018 citing the defeat of ISIS and a reduction in the number of people coming to Belgium from Syria.
The Belgian parliament issued a report in 2018 warning that convicts in the country had been behind several recent attacks in Europe and further expressed concerns that hundreds of prisoners deemed radical by authorities are due to be released in the coming years.[citation needed]
At about 10:30, outside the Aux Augustins café in Liege's city centre, the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar", according to Federal Magistrate Wenke Rogen and according to a video reported by La Repubblica. He was armed with a knife that he used to stab two female officers, Lucile Garcia and Soraya Belkacemi, from behind as they were checking parking meters. He took one of the officers' handguns (he was later pictured with two handguns) and fatally shot the officers. A 22-year-old male, Cyril Vangriecken, was also killed in an attempted car-jacking before the perpetrator went into the Athénée de Waha high school and tried to take a female cleaner hostage who was left unharmed after she told the attacker that she was a Muslim who observed Ramadan, and persuaded him to not harm the pupils. All the students had been evacuated to the nearby Botanical Garden.
The perpetrator then left the school and shot two police officers in the leg, leaving one officer in a serious condition. Two other officers received injuries to their arms before the attacker was shot dead when the police returned fire.
Catherine Collignon, a spokesman for the Liège prosecutors, confirmed the deaths of four people, including the assailant. She later claimed the attack matched the style of similar IS-inspired attacks and told a press conference the attack "qualified as terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder."
A terrorism investigation was launched after the attack. The method of the attack, repeatedly stabbing the policewomen before using their own firearms to kill them, while shouting "Allahu Akbar", was said by investigators to be specifically encouraged by the Islamic State.
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