Belgian soldiers shoot dead knife attacker in Brussels

[rooster59]

Belgian soldiers shoot dead knife attacker in Brussels

By Philip Blenkinsop

 

Policemen react on the scene after Belgian soldiers shot a man who attacked them with a knife, in Brussels, Belgium August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Vidal

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian soldiers shot dead a man in the centre of Brussels on Friday evening after he came at them with a knife shouting Allahu Akbar (God is great), in a case authorities are treating as a terrorist attack.

 

The man, a 30-year-old Belgian of Somali origin, died after being rushed to hospital. The soldiers were not seriously hurt in the attack; one had a facial wound and the other's hand was wounded.

 

Prosecutors said the man, who was not known for terrorist activities, had twice shouted Allahu Akbar during the attack, which occurred at around 8:15 p.m. local time (1815 GMT) just outside the city's central pedestrian zone while the soldiers were on patrol.

 

The case passed from local to federal prosecutors, who typically handle terrorist cases. A spokeswoman for the prosecution service said they were treating the case as one of attempted terrorist murder.

 

Brussels mayor Philip Close said the alert status, already just one off the maximum level, had not been increased.

 

"Initial indications are ... that it is an isolated attack, a single person," Close told reporters beside a street blocked by police.

 

Soldiers routinely patrol the streets of the Belgian capital due to a heightened security alert level after Islamist shooting and bomb attacks in Paris in 2015 and Brussels in 2016.

 

In June, troops shot dead a suspected suicide bomber at Brussels' central train station. There were no other casualties. Authorities treated the incident as an attempted terrorist attack.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-26

[Krataiboy]

Yet another "isolated" attack by a fanatical Muslim  - with more to come, as promised by Islamic fundamentalist groups who have taken advantage of lax European immigration laws to plant unknown numbers of terrorist sleepers in our midst.

 

Love him or hate him, Trump was right about a nation's duty effectively to control its borders. Our failure to do so can be laid at the feet of the same inept and mendacious political leaders who dragged us into the US's phony War on Terror and are now utterly failing to protect us as the murderous chickens come home to roost.

 

Shame on the lot of them.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2017 by Krataiboy

[rockingrobin]

31 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Yet another "isolated" attack by a fanatical Muslim  - with more to come, as promised by Islamic fundamentalist groups who have taken advantage of lax European immigration laws to plant unknown numbers of terrorist sleepers in our midst.

 

Love him or hate him, Trump was right about a nation's duty effectively to control its borders. Our failure to do so can be laid at the feet of the same inept and mendacious political leaders who dragged us into the US's phony War on Terror and are now utterly failing to protect us as the murderous chickens come home to roost.

 

Shame on the lot of them.

 

 

 

 

Honestly , there is no difference between the likes of Trump, the far right and ISIS, they all feed off terrorism to achieve the same goal. To create hatred and division among society

[lvr181]

1 hour ago, rockingrobin said:

Honestly , there is no difference between the likes of Trump, the far right and ISIS, they all feed off terrorism to achieve the same goal. To create hatred and division among society

AKA divide and conquer? 

[Wallander4]

Belgium asked for it and got it - more IS supporters there than anywhere in EU

[55Jay]

Nice shootin', Tex!

 

[boomerangutang]

Several years ago, I read an article based on statistics & population #'s that projected that Belgium would be the first EU country to officially accept Sharia Law.   Whether you believe it or not, it's still a sobering factoid.

[Laughing Gravy]

Yet another attack in the name of Islam. I told people a week ago after the sad attacks in Spain that you will get more and more. I was slated by some posters here for saying that (the truth). Once again this is only the beginning. When will people wake up and realise that Islam does not belong in the modern world.

[halloween]

Starting to be daily events as the tempo picks up.

 

Have to wonder why the rush to get him to hospital.

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

Several years ago, I read an article based on statistics & population #'s that projected that Belgium would be the first EU country to officially accept Sharia Law.   Whether you believe it or not, it's still a sobering factoid.

Hmmm, wonder who wrote that article,  propaganda I believe they call it, don't believe everything you read.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Yet another attack in the name of Islam. I told people a week ago after the sad attacks in Spain that you will get more and more. I was slated by some posters here for saying that (the truth). Once again this is only the beginning. When will people wake up and realise that Islam does not belong in the modern world.

All religions in my opinion belong in the world, that is coming from an atheist, its up to the individual to work out if religion is actually for them.

 

Islam is just another religion, its the fanatics like IS and the like, that create hatred for the Muslims from the west, its all part of their plan for war, but most Muslims are peaceful family orientate people, as others in other religions are.

 

Just think about it, how many Muslims are there in the world, well there were 1.8 billion Muslims in the world as of 2015 – roughly 24% of the global population – according to a Pew Research Center estimate, how many of those went about killing in the west ? 

 

But while Islam is currently the world's second-largest religion (after Christianity), it is the fastest-growing major religion.

 

I for one don't feel threatened by it, or any other religion, as much as I am not threatened by same sex marriage.

 

Yes it's true, religion has been a major feature in some historical conflicts and the most recent wave of modern terrorism. Religion has taken on extra significance today because globalisation is challenging and changing everything. Religious identity not only survives but can take on heightened significance when national and political alliances break apart, as had happened, if you remember the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, when Serbs, Croats and Bosniacs were divided along Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim fault lines.

 

The Qur'an recognises the human propensity for conflict and gives permission for defensive warfare.

 

Muslim scholars developed a just-war theory although admittedly in the ensuing centuries jihad was also used to further the territorial ambitions of ruthless leaders, just as today it's distorted to justify terrorist bombings. Like both law and politics, religion can be used to defend the oppressed and to oppress the defenceless.

The problem of corrupt religion has attracted the criticism of many prophets and saints. The Qur'an censures religious hypocrites:

 

Among the people there is he whose discourse on the life of the world pleases you, and he calls on God as witness to what is in his heart, yet he is an unyielding and antagonistic adversary. When he turns and leaves, he walks about corrupting the earth, destroying crops and livestock – God loves not corruption (Q2:204–205).

 

The above verse could well apply to Saddam Hussein, who made a show of praying on television, but gassed and bombed Kurds and was a tyrannical dictator. Religion, unfortunately, provides a useful cover and powerful motivator for the evil-hearted.

 

That religion can be so markedly different in the hands of the power-hungry, as opposed to the altruistic and virtuous, really says more about human psychology than it does about religion. That's why so many human conflicts unfortunately involve religion.

 

As for the Muslim fanatic that was shot dead, no great lose to me, just another halfwit who took the bait, 74 virgins my ass 555

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  

 

The topic isn't about Trump.  

[ilostmypassword]

4 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Yet another attack in the name of Islam. I told people a week ago after the sad attacks in Spain that you will get more and more. I was slated by some posters here for saying that (the truth). Once again this is only the beginning. When will people wake up and realise that Islam does not belong in the modern world.

Wow! What a prediction. What are the odds? Really? I hope you got yourself to  Ladbroke's. The odds that there will be more Islamist attacks must be terribly small. You would have made a fortune. Who but you and a small band of truth tellers could have foreseen this? And the threat is immense. I went to a wikipedia and found that the total number of deaths from islamist terrorists between dec 2014 and august 2017 was 459. There are about 540 million people in the EU. So the yearly odds of dying from a terrorist attack were less than 1 in 2 million. Europe is doomed!

[observer90210]

ISIS/Daesch/ISIL, the KKK, the US Jewish Defence League (JDL) or any other muslim or white hate and terror groups,  all deserve to end up in the same sceptic tank!!  (sorry to my racist acquaintances here and there!)

 

I've said this before and will say it again.  Hate and terror do not have a colour or a religion.

 

By turn, the hate groups under the pretext of international military interventions or ingerence, skin colour, race, coveting territory,  soverign nation's natural ressources, religion or any other excuse, justify their use of hate, terror, racism, xenophobia and/or violence, to meet their goals. 

 

But at the end of the day, it is just an issue of brainless, frustrated, gulliable, greedy and/or stupid people, with low self esteem or education, manipulated by their preachers on a higher scale of pathologies.

 

And in between, you have the innocent, no matter where in the world, who don't give damm and get to pay the price tag.

Edited August 26, 2017 by observer90210

[simple1]

5 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Wow! What a prediction. What are the odds? Really? I hope you got yourself to  Ladbroke's. The odds that there will be more Islamist attacks must be terribly small. You would have made a fortune. Who but you and a small band of truth tellers could have foreseen this? And the threat is immense. I went to a wikipedia and found that the total number of deaths from islamist terrorists between dec 2014 and august 2017 was 459. There are about 540 million people in the EU. So the yearly odds of dying from a terrorist attack were less than 1 in 2 million. Europe is doomed!

An increase in tempo of terror attacks by Daesh sympathisers against Western countries has been warned of by security forces for quite a while, accordingly no surprise with what happening. Also in the view of Western security analysts Islamic terror will continue for decades. As you say in comparison to the Muslim population in Western countries the murder rate to date is comparatively very low, of course this info is of no solace to the family & friends of victims.

Edited August 26, 2017 by simple1

[lvr181]

On 8/26/2017 at 11:34 PM, 4MyEgo said:

All religions in my opinion belong in the world, that is coming from an atheist, its up to the individual to work out if religion is actually for them.

 

Islam is just another religion, its the fanatics like IS and the like, that create hatred for the Muslims from the west, its all part of their plan for war, but most Muslims are peaceful family orientate people, as others in other religions are.

 

Just think about it, how many Muslims are there in the world, well there were 1.8 billion Muslims in the world as of 2015 – roughly 24% of the global population – according to a Pew Research Center estimate, how many of those went about killing in the west ? 

 

But while Islam is currently the world's second-largest religion (after Christianity), it is the fastest-growing major religion.

 

I for one don't feel threatened by it, or any other religion, as much as I am not threatened by same sex marriage.

 

Yes it's true, religion has been a major feature in some historical conflicts and the most recent wave of modern terrorism. Religion has taken on extra significance today because globalisation is challenging and changing everything. Religious identity not only survives but can take on heightened significance when national and political alliances break apart, as had happened, if you remember the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, when Serbs, Croats and Bosniacs were divided along Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim fault lines.

 

The Qur'an recognises the human propensity for conflict and gives permission for defensive warfare.

 

Muslim scholars developed a just-war theory although admittedly in the ensuing centuries jihad was also used to further the territorial ambitions of ruthless leaders, just as today it's distorted to justify terrorist bombings. Like both law and politics, religion can be used to defend the oppressed and to oppress the defenceless.

The problem of corrupt religion has attracted the criticism of many prophets and saints. The Qur'an censures religious hypocrites:

 

Among the people there is he whose discourse on the life of the world pleases you, and he calls on God as witness to what is in his heart, yet he is an unyielding and antagonistic adversary. When he turns and leaves, he walks about corrupting the earth, destroying crops and livestock – God loves not corruption (Q2:204–205).

 

The above verse could well apply to Saddam Hussein, who made a show of praying on television, but gassed and bombed Kurds and was a tyrannical dictator. Religion, unfortunately, provides a useful cover and powerful motivator for the evil-hearted.

 

That religion can be so markedly different in the hands of the power-hungry, as opposed to the altruistic and virtuous, really says more about human psychology than it does about religion. That's why so many human conflicts unfortunately involve religion.

 

As for the Muslim fanatic that was shot dead, no great lose to me, just another halfwit who took the bait, 74 virgins my ass 555

No no no - you misunderstand. It is only one virgin and she is 74!