Brussels gunman who killed two Swedes shot dead by police

[October 17, 2023]  By Philip Blenkinsop and Marine Strauss

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Tunisian gunman suspected of killing two Swedish football fans in Brussels died on Tuesday after being shot by police in a cafe, while Sweden's prime minister said Europe must bolster security to protect itself.

The 45-year-old attacker, who identified himself as a member of Islamic State and claimed responsibility in a video posted online, is also suspected of wounding another Swedish national in central Brussels on Monday night.

"These terrorists want to scare us into obedience and silence. That will not happen," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm.

"This is a time for more security, we can't be naive," Kristersson said, adding that Sweden and the European Union needed to protect their borders.

The shooting came at a time of heightened security concerns in some European countries linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict, though a Belgian federal prosecutor said there was no evidence that the attacker had any link to the renewed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.

In August, Sweden raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of an increase in threats against Swedes at home and abroad after Koran burnings outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.

Video footage of the attack posted on the Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper website showed a man in an orange jacket on a scooter at a street intersection with a rifle first firing five shots, then following people fleeing into a building before firing again.

"I saw the assailant enter the building and shoot twice towards the man - the man fell to the ground. I saw him fall because I was just nearby," said a witness, who identified himself as Souleymane.

"I stayed there, I was frozen, I couldn't move. I'm still shivering because of what happened."

According to a media transcript of the video message recorded by the self-declared perpetrator, the attacker said he had killed Swedes to take revenge in the name of Muslims.

BRUTAL 'TERRORIST ATTACK'

The suspect, who unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium in

November 2019 and was living in the country illegally, was known to Belgian police in connection with people smuggling, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said earlier on Tuesday.
 

Police officers work after a police operation during which the gunman who killed two Swedish citizens in Brussels was shot, according to local media, in Schaerbeek near Brussels, Belgium, October 17, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman

In a video on social media, the suspected gunman called himself Abdesalem Al Guilani.

The gunman fled the scene after the shooting as a football match between Belgium and Sweden was about to start, triggering a massive manhunt and prompting Belgium to raise the terrorism alert in its capital to its highest level.

"The perpetrator targeted specifically Swedish supporters who were in Brussels to attend a Red Devils soccer match. Two Swedish compatriots passed away. A third person is recovering from severe injures," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said, calling it a brutal "terrorist attack".

Belgium was hosting Sweden in a Euro 2024 qualifying match. The match was abandoned at halftime.

Belgium has increased the police presence in the capital and warned the public to be extra vigilant and avoid unnecessary travel.

Armed police stood guard outside the suspect's apartment in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek while investigators gathered evidence.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Europe was "shaken". France is deploying 7,000 extra troops on to its streets after a teacher was fatally stabbed on Friday in an attack Macron condemned as "barbaric Islamic terrorism".

The European Commission, which is based in Brussels, has urged staff to work from home. Some schools were closed.

Belgium has been the target of several Islamist attacks over recent years, the deadliest being the 2016 attack on Brussels airport and the city's metro, in which 32 people died.

Several of the Islamist gunmen who targeted Paris in a 2015 attack that killed 130 people were Belgian or living in Brussels.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Bart Meijer, Benoit van Overstraeten, Jan Strupczewski, Tassilo Hummel, Zhifan Liu, Marine Strauss, Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Niklas Pollard; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Christina Fincher and Nick Macfie)

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