BRUSSELS (AP) — A knife-wielding man stabbed two police officers in Brussels Wednesday in an incident that may be terror-related, Belgian prosecutors said.
It was the latest attack on law enforcement officials in a nation that has been on high alert since 32 people were killed in suicide bombing attacks in the Brussels airport and subway on March 22.
According to the state-run broadcaster RTBF, the assailant Wednesday stabbed one officer in the neck and the other in the abdomen in the city’s Schaerbeek neighborhood, then fled.
He was stopped by a second group of police. He broke the nose of one officer, who shot the man in the leg, after which he was detained, RTBF said.
Federal Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told The Associated Press “we have reason to believe that it is terror-related,” but declined to provide details of what had occurred or explain why prosecutors think the attack was linked to terrorism.
“The injuries to the police officers were not life threatening,” said Van Der Sypt.
In August, a machete-wielding man shouting “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is Great!” — attacked and seriously wounded two policewomen in the southern Belgian city of Mons. The assailant was shot dead. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, which also claimed the Brussels suicide bombings.
On Sept. 7, a man carrying a knife attacked two police officers in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, but the officers were wearing bulletproof vests and suffered only bruises, prosecutors said. The assailant said nothing during that attack and gave no indication of his motives.
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