Police find body at Liege attacker's home

[December 14, 2011]  LIEGE, Belgium (AP) -- The body of a woman has been found in the garage of a grenade-lobbing gunman, bringing to four the number of people killed in an attack in the city of Liege, officials said Wednesday.

Liege Prosecutor Daniele Reynders said the body of a woman in her forties was discovered during a search of Nordine Amrani's property, and that she was killed before the murderous spree at Liege's main square which also left 123 people injured.

"It was a cleaning lady. This is how she met him yesterday morning," Reynders said. "She dies, shot with a bullet in the head."

Reynders said Amrani, 33 years old, died in Tuesday's attack in an apparent suicide, and he was found with a number of grenades still on him.

"What killed him was a shot in the middle of his forehead," she said.

Two male teenage students, 15 and 17 years old, also died in the attack, while an 18-month-old toddler died Tuesday evening in hospital, Liege police said. Several people remain in intensive care.

A 75-year-old woman who had initially been counted among the dead was taken off the list, even though she stands virtually no chance of recovering from her injuries, said Catherine Delcourt, a spokeswoman for the Liege governor.

Beyond the dead and injured, Reynders said some 40 people had to be treated for psychological trauma.

It remained unclear what motivated the attack. Reynders said that after searches of Amrani's house terrorism could be excluded as the driving force.

Amrani, who had spent time in jail for offenses involving guns and drugs, had been called in for questioning by police in a sexual abuse case.

Officials said he left his Liege home with a backpack, armed with hand grenades, a revolver and an FAL assault rifle.

He walked alone to a busy downtown square, then got onto a platform that gave him an ideal view of the area below, which was bedecked with a huge Christmas tree and crowded with shoppers.

From there, he lobbed three hand grenades toward a nearby bus shelter, which serves 1,800 buses a day -- the explosions sending shards of glass from the shelter across a wide area. He then opened fire upon the crowd.

As soon as the shooting began, hundreds fled the square as well as a nearby Christmas market. Video from the scene showed the crowds, including a large group of children, surging through the city center to seek cover, some still carrying shopping bags.

[Associated Press; By RAF CASERT]

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