Suspected 'terrorist attack' on Belgium police officers

Suspected 'terrorist attack' on Belgium police officers
A 43-year-old Belgian man stabbed two police officers and broke a third officer's nose in Brussels on Wednesday.
1 min read
05 October, 2016
The man injured three police officers before he was shot in the leg [AFP]
Two police officers were attacked by a man with a knife in Brussels on Wednesday, which police believe could be "terror-related".

One officer was stabbed in the neck and the other in the abdomen by a 43-year-old Belgian man called Hicham D.

"There are reasons to believe that this is a terrorist attack," said Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the federal prosecutor.

A second police team subsequently shot the man in the leg and detained him, after he broke a third police officer's nose.

The attack took place outside the Kinetix sports centre in Schaerbeek, Brussels.

"I saw a man who was hobbling before the attack. Afterwards he looked like he'd been shot in the leg by the police," an eyewitness told Belgium's De Redactie.

"He was then transported by ambulance after they had splinted his leg. He was a fairly stocky man wearing a sweater with hood."

The case has now been transferred to the federal prosecutor responsible for terrorism.

The knife used in Shaerbeek
A knife found at the crime scene in Shaerbeek, Belgium [AFP]