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Suspect arrested after attack on army barracks in Belgium Suspect arrested after attack on army barracks in Belgium
(about 4 hours 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. A suspect has been arrested after a lone attacker 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. Police detained the suspect after a three-hour manhunt around Flawinne, a suburb of the southern city of Namur where Belgium’s 2nd Commando Battalion has its base.
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. Prosecutor Vincent Macq said no motives could be excluded but that evidence did not immediately point to an attempted terrorist attack. “It is important to calm people. There is nothing to suggest there are others involved,” he told the Belga news agency.
Police cordoned off the area from 9.40am until 10.30am and a video posted on Twitter shows officers apparently outside a supermarket. Macq described the suspect as a local in his thirties who had once tried to join the military. He was unarmed and had tried to hide with other locals around the base when he fled, Macq said.
“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.” “It was more a man on the run than a threatening man. It is someone who was not on any of our radical lists, he his unknown by our security services, and I want to add that for the moment nothing can let us say that we are facing a terror lead.”
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. Since a gunman killed four people in a May 2014 attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels, Belgium has been on higher alert for further extremist attacks. Police cordoned off the area from 9.40am until 10.30am following the attack on the base and a video posted on Twitter shows officers apparently outside a supermarket.
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. The vehicle’s owner is said to have been identified after the car, a Ford Focus, 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 but prosecutors and police later said there were no explosives.
Attaque de la caserne de #flawinne ce matin. La voiture de l'assaillant a été retrouvée @BelgaImage pic.twitter.com/cPjaLavovcAttaque 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 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 immediate motive for the attack was known. The defence minister, Steven Vandeput, said the intruder’s motive remained unclear but insisted “it is certainly an aggression targeting the barracks.”
The Flawinne barracks are home to a commando battalion of 650 soldiers who take part in Nato operations and peacekeeping missions.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. A 29-year-old man arrested in connection with the 2014 attack on the Jewish museum, 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.