On Wednesday, a knife-wielding attacker in the “jihadi hotbed” of Brussels was arrested after stabbing two policemen. Officials are treating the incident as a terrorist attack, although the assailant has yet to provide an explicit reasons for his criminal behavior.
The 43-year-old man, identified by prosecutors only as Hicham D., is a Belgian national.
According to The Telegraph, the attack occurred “in a busy main road in Schaerbeek – the Brussels neighbourhood where the terrorists behind the airport and metro attacks of March 22 had set up their bomb making factory.”
Local media is reporting that the attacker became unhinged after he was asked to provide identification during a routine check.
The assailant stabbed one police officer in the stomach and another in the neck in the course of the attack. He then fled the scene, but another officer nearby managed to stop the suspect with non-fatal gunshots.
Both officers are expected to make a full recovery.
The city of Brussels has been struggling with an onslaught of terror threats in the last few.
In fact, just a couple hours before the stabbing attack, the nearby Brussels Gare du Nord train station was evacuated after an anonymous caller warned of a bomb threat.
Police rushed to the scene but found nothing suspicious. Authorities re-opened the station later that afternoon.
And a few weeks before, a terrorist neutralized by security forces in Charleroi after stabbing police officers with a machete. The attacker was yelling “Allahu Akbar” during his assault.
Top image (Getty Images): Three police officers stand guard at the Meiser neighbourhood in Schaarbeek – Schaerbeek in Brussels on March 25, 2016 during an anti-terrorist operation searching for suspects of March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels.