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| Suspect arrested after attack on army barracks in Belgium | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A suspect has been arrested after a masked gunman tried to ram a car through the gates of a military barracks in Belgium and then fled when soldiers replied with more than a dozen gunshots. | |
| “The individual has just been arrested. It is important to calm people. There is nothing to suggest there are others involved,” prosecutor Vincent Macq told the Belga news agency. | “The individual has just been arrested. It is important to calm people. There is nothing to suggest there are others involved,” prosecutor Vincent Macq told the Belga news agency. |
| No one was injured and the attacker fled after soldiers from the barracks in Flawinne, a suburb of Namur which is home to the 2nd Commando Battalion, opened fire on the vehicle. | |
| Police cordoned off the area from 9.40am until 10.30am and a video posted on Twitter shows officers apparently outside a supermarket. | |
| “No one was hurt, it seems,” a spokesman for prosecutors in Namur was reported as saying. “If I look at it from an outsider’s point of view, it seems incomprehensible,” he said. “Why would you attack a military barracks? There are plenty of weapons there to strike back.” | “No one was hurt, it seems,” a spokesman for prosecutors in Namur was reported as saying. “If I look at it from an outsider’s point of view, it seems incomprehensible,” he said. “Why would you attack a military barracks? There are plenty of weapons there to strike back.” |
| The vehicle’s owner is said to have been identified after the car was found in Belgrade, near Flawinne. Bomb squad officials were on the scene after witnesses told Belgian media that the man was apparently carrying something heavy in a case. | The vehicle’s owner is said to have been identified after the car was found in Belgrade, near Flawinne. Bomb squad officials were on the scene after witnesses told Belgian media that the man was apparently carrying something heavy in a case. |
| Lt Gen Claude van de Voorde, chief of staff of the Belgian defence cabinet, said he could not confirm media reports that explosives were in the car. “People start making up things quickly,” he said. | Lt Gen Claude van de Voorde, chief of staff of the Belgian defence cabinet, said he could not confirm media reports that explosives were in the car. “People start making up things quickly,” he said. |
| Attaque de la caserne de #flawinne ce matin. La voiture de l'assaillant a été retrouvée @BelgaImage pic.twitter.com/cPjaLavovc | Attaque de la caserne de #flawinne ce matin. La voiture de l'assaillant a été retrouvée @BelgaImage pic.twitter.com/cPjaLavovc |
| No immediate motive for the attack was known. | No immediate motive for the attack was known. |
| The Flawinne barracks are home to a commando battalion of 650 soldiers who take part in Nato operations and peacekeeping missions. | |
| Security was increased around the European commission, embassies and Jewish schools in Brussels after two men were killed in a police raid against a suspected terrorist cell in Verviers last January. | Security was increased around the European commission, embassies and Jewish schools in Brussels after two men were killed in a police raid against a suspected terrorist cell in Verviers last January. |
| Four people were killed in a gun attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels last May. A 29-year-old man arrested in connection with that incident, Mehdi Nemmouche, is believed to have spent over a year in Syria. Police officers reportedly found a short video featuring the flag of Islamic State in his luggage. |