In a tremendous triumph of common sense, the Belgian PM has deemed it a likely act of terrorism. As opposed to blaming it on mental illness or space aliens.
A machete-wielding man attacked two female police officers in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi on Saturday. The man, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest) during the attack, was shot dead by police.
The attack happened outside the city’s police headquarters. Charleroi police spokesman David Quinaux said the man had a machete in a sports bag and took it out as he reached a security checkpoint outside the headquarters. One the two police officers who were attacked sustained several deep slashing cuts to her face, Quinaux said, adding that the second officer sustained minor injuries. Both the officers were out of danger.
Prime Minister Charles Michel said that the identity of the assailant or his motive was not immediately known but “initial indications very clearly point towards terrorism.”
Charleroi was used as a base by some terrorists involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks — that killed 130 people —and suicide bombings at Brussels airport in March this year — which claimed 32 lives.
Meanwhile the Belgian Interior Minister deemed it an act of barbarism. Which is both accurate and politically incorrect. But it's just the tip of the Islamic iceberg in Belgium.
Operations include the arrest on June 25 of a man in the town of Verviers and another at Tournai.
According to the Belgian media, one had been planning to blow himself up during a public screening of one of the Euro 2016 football matches.
On July 30, two people were arrested, one in Mons and the other in Liege, on suspicion of plotting attacks, according to the federal prosecutor's office.
Belgium is the main source per head of population of jihadist recruits going from EU countries to fight with IS in Syria, causing deep concern that they will return home battle-hardened and even more radicalised.
The interior ministry said 457 Belgian men and women had gone or tried to join jihadists in the Middle East, including 90 who are missing or dead.
Clearly the only solution is to keep Muslim immigration going until there are 40,000 Belgian Jihadis or maybe 400,000.