Though the motive for the attack is still under investigation, witnesses at the scene reportedly heard the gunman shout ‘Allahu Akbar’.
Police arrive on scene in Liege. VICTORJ_FR/TWITTER
A gunman opened fire next to a Belgium coffee shop today (Tuesday), killing two police officers and one passer-by. Two other police officers were also injured in the attack.
The shooting took place in the eastern city of Liege, the third-largest city in Belgium, near a cafe on the Boulevard d’Avroy.
Emergency services attend the scene of an attack in Liège, Belgium, in which two police officers were shot dead [29 May] #verified pic.twitter.com/fJaeg75wFS
— RTDigital (@RT_Digital) May 29, 2018
According to reports from the scene, the gunman took a woman hostage from a nearby school before fleeing from the scene but was soon caught and eliminated by the Belgian police.
According to the BBC, a spokesperson with the Liege prosecutor’s office told the AFP news agency that they “don’t know anything yet” about the gunman’s motive, but security sources told local media that the man had been heard shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’.