Location Schaerbeek, Belgium Attack type Stabbing Deaths 0 | Target Police officers Weapons Machete | |
Date 5 October 2016 (UTC+02:00) | ||
On 5 October 2016, three police officers were attacked by a man wielding a machete in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium. Two of them suffered stab wounds, while the third was physically assaulted but otherwise uninjured. The suspected assailant, a Belgian citizen identified only as Hicham D., was apprehended and charged with attempted terrorism-related murder and participating in a terrorist group.
Contents
Background
Prior to the stabbing, a nearby neighborhood, Molenbeek, had already become known as "a hotbed of jihadism" in Brussels. It was the neighborhood where the perpetrators of the March 2016 Brussels bombings and some of the perpetrators of the November 2015 Paris attacks were based. The stabbing came nearly two months after a similar stabbing attack in Charleroi, in which an Algerian citizen stabbed two police officers; and nearly one month after another similar attack in nearby Molenbeek, in which a man of North African origin slightly injured two police officers. At the time of the stabbing, Brussels was on a high terror alert.
Attack
The attack reportedly occurred during an identity check on a busy main road in Schaerbeek. A man, armed with a machete, lunged for two police officers; one was stabbed in the stomach and the other in the neck, but neither was seriously injured. Afterwards, the attacker fled the scene, but encountered a third officer nearby and got into a violent struggle, which resulted in the officer acquiring a broken nose. The officer then shot and wounded the attacker with a single shot to the leg. According to an eyewitness, the attacker shouted something in Arabic after being shot.
Suspect
The suspect was identified only as Hicham D. by police and media. According to Belgian media, he was a 43-year-old Belgium Army veteran who was discharged in 2009 and was previously known to police. He was also believed to have links to jihadists who traveled to Syria. His home was searched by Belgian police, which recovered no weapons.
A spokesman for the federal prosecutor said there was "reason to believe that [the stabbing] is terror-related", but did not elaborate or provide an explanation as to how prosecutors came to that conclusion. Hicham D. was charged with attempted terrorism-related murder and participating in a terrorist group. His 46-year-old brother, Aboubaker D., was also arrested and charged with participating in a terrorist group.
Reactions
Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon tweeted a statement after the attack, expressing his support for police officers in Schaerbeek.