2022 Brussels stabbing

2022 Brussels stabbing
Part of terrorism in Belgium
LocationRue d'Aerschot, Schaerbeek, Brussels, Belgium
Date10 November 2022 (2022-11-10)
TargetPolice officers
Attack type
Stabbing
WeaponsKnife
Deaths1 police officer
Injured1 police officer and the perpetrator
MotiveIslamic terrorism

A stabbing attack happened on 10 November 2022 in Brussels, Belgium, killing a police officer and injuring another. Authorities suspect the attack to be terror-related.[1][2] The attacker shouted the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar" while committing the stabbing.[3]

Background

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During the late 20th and early 21st century, bombing and stabbing attacks have been carried out in Brussels, including those in 1979, 2014, 2016, June 2017, August 2017 and 2018.

Incident

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At around 18:15 (GMT) close to the city's Brussels-North railway station, two officers were stabbed before the attacker was shot in the legs and abdomen by another police patrol arriving at the scene. One of the police officers died after being stabbed in the neck. The other wounded officer as well as the attacker were hospitalised.[4]

Suspect

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The suspect is a 32-year-old Belgian-Moroccan named Yassine Mahi, who was born and residing in Brussels. He was known to the Belgian security authorities and appeared on a list of radicalized Muslims. In the morning on the same day the stabbing incident happened, he made threats against the police on a police station. Despite the threats he was not arrested but instead brought by the police to the psychiatric unit of the Saint-Luc hospital, where he stayed voluntarily for psychiatric treatment. There he was able to leave the hospital.[5][6] The police checked the criteria for psychiatric surveillance, but because he voluntarily went to psychiatric treatment, the legal criteria was not given.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Sharon Braithwaite, James Frater, Barbara von Bulow and Sugam Pokharel (2022-11-10). "Police officer killed in stabbing attack in Brussels, local police say". cnn.com. cnn. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Belgian police officer killed in Brussels knife attack". france24.com. france24. 2022-11-10. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  3. ^ "Ein Polizist bei Messerangriff in Brüssel getötet, ein weiterer verletzt". nzz.ch. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 2022-11-10. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  4. ^ "Belgium launches terror probe after policeman knifed to death". france24.com. france24. 2022-11-10. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  5. ^ "Policier tué à Bruxelles: l'assaillant était fiché par les services antiterroristes". lefigaro.fr (in French). Le Figaro. 2022-11-11. Archived from the original on 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  6. ^ "Suspect in fatal stabbing of Brussels policeman was known radical- prosecutors". reuters.com. Reuters. 2022-11-11. Archived from the original on 2022-11-10. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  7. ^ Gutschker, Thomas (2022-11-11). "Terroranschlag mit Vorwarnung". faz.net (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Archived from the original on 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2022-11-11.