Tunisian Extremist Shot Dead in Brussels After Killing Spree
A Tunisian gunman believed to have killed two Swedish football fans in central Brussels on Monday night was shot dead by police in a Brussels café on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old attacker, who identified himself as a member of Islamic State and claimed responsibility in a video posted online, is also accused of wounding another Swedish national in Monday’s attack. Video footage of the attack showed a man in an orange vest pulling up on a scooter at a street intersection and firing a rifle at a group of people getting out of a taxi, then chasing them into a building and continuing to fire and reload, before escaping into the night.
Many Swedish fans were in Brussels for a Belgium-Sweden soccer match, which was suspended while the attacker was at large.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference in Stockholm that Sweden and the European Union in general needed to protect their borders.
“These terrorists want to scare us into obedience and silence. That will not happen,” he said. “This is a time for more security, we can’t be naive.”
The shooting came at a time of heightened security concerns in some European countries linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict, though a Belgian federal prosecutor said there was no evidence that the attacker had any link to that conflict. In August, Sweden raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of an increase in threats against Swedes at home and abroad after Quran burnings outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
