A man who killed two Swedish nationals in Brussels was shot dead by Belgian police on Monday evening. The 45-year-old man, identified in Belgian media as Abdesalem, was killed in a café in the Schaerbeek neighborhood. Another Swedish citizen was seriously injured in the attack, which occurred 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the stadium where Belgium was playing Sweden to qualify for the Euro 2024 football tournament. The victims were all men in their 60s and 70s, according to Swedish officials.
The attack began at 19:00 (17:00 GMT) on Monday when a man opened fire with an automatic rifle on the Boulevard d’Ypres, north of the city center. Videos shared online depicted a man on a scooter, dressed in an orange fluorescent jacket, shooting at passers-by and chasing people into an apartment building’s hallway to attack them. Four gunshots can be heard in the video. The attacker later filmed himself admitting to the killings, mentioning fighting for God and claiming to have killed Swedish people.
The suspect was apprehended on Tuesday morning after an overnight manhunt. A witness informed the police that they had seen the suspect in a café near his accommodation in Schaerbeek, carrying a military weapon and a bag of clothes. The suspect was shot in the chest and received intensive care treatment but died from his wounds. He was believed to be a Tunisian man who was in Belgium illegally after his asylum application was rejected in 2020. Sweden’s prosecutor’s office suggested that he was inspired by the Islamic State (IS) group to commit the killings.
Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden confirmed that the automatic weapon found on the suspect was the same as the one used in the attack. Belgium raised its threat risk to the highest level (four) following the killings, but it was later lowered to three after authorities assessed that the imminent threat had diminished with the suspect’s death.
Initially, Belgian prosecutors stated that there were no apparent links between the attack and the Israel-Gaza war, but they later acknowledged that they could not exclude that possibility. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo described the shooting as “a harrowing act of terrorism,” and prosecutors suggested that the victims were likely targeted because they were Swedish. The Swedish authorities advised their citizens in Belgium and abroad to remain vigilant.
The Euro 2024 qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden was abandoned at halftime due to security concerns, with fans having to wait for hours in the King Baudouin Stadium before being evacuated. Despite the attacker’s death, some people in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe expressed concerns about the possibility of further attacks.
The suspect had applied for asylum in Belgium in November 2019 but was rejected the following October. In February 2021, he was removed from the national register and ordered to leave the country. He was considered a threat to national security, suspected of human trafficking, and had previous police interactions related to people smuggling.
Sweden had raised its threat alert to the second-highest level in August due to a series of Quran burnings, which led to protests and condemnations from several Muslim-majority countries.
Various individuals and organizations, including the captain of Sweden’s football team, Victor Lindelof, expressed shock and sadness over the attack. In France, security measures were increased for a football match between France and Scotland, and a moment of silence was planned at all Euro 2024 qualifying matches on Tuesday to commemorate the victims in Brussels.
In a separate incident in France, an anti-terror prosecutor reported that a man who fatally stabbed a teacher at a school in the city of Arras last week had declared allegiance to IS before the attack, though there was no direct connection between this incident and the one in Brussels.
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