The alleged Islamist perpetrator of Monday night’s terror attack who boasted of sacrificing “souls and blood” was shot dead Tuesday morning by Belgian police at a Cafe in Schaarbeek.
45-year-old Abdesalem Lassoued, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with a serious criminal history and known to be radicalised was shot dead in the frequently terror-linked Brussels neighbourhood of Schaarbeek on Tuesday morning. Lassoued is the main suspect in what police say was a terrorist attack in central Brussels on Monday night where three Swedish citizens visiting the city for a football game were gunned down.
As reported, two people were killed and a third injured critically in the attack, in which a man riding on a scooter fired at pedestrians with a Kalashnikov-type rifle while shouting “Allahu akbar”.
Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reports of the slain suspect that he applied for asylum in the country in 2019 but was rejected the following year. Yet he was never deported. Lassoued posted videos to social media after the attack in which he stated he believed himself to be a “warrior on ther way to Allah” who had lived and would die in “the way of our faith” before proclaiming: “I killed three Swedes, praise be to Allah”.
The cafe at the Eugene Verboekhovenplein/ Place Eugene Verboekhoven in Schaerbeek/ Schaarbeek, Brussels, where the suspected perpetrator of the attack in Brussels was probably shot during a police intervention, Tuesday 17 October 2023. (Photo by JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
Aftermath of a shooting incident in the Ieperlaan – Boulevard d’Ypres, Brussels, Tuesday 17 October 2023. (Photo by JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
The Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said of the suspect this morning that as well as being known for being a threat to state security, the government had been sent a tip-off that he had become radicalised and wanted to travel to fight jihad. He also had a record for human smuggling.
The Minister said these reports came during a time of heightened terror concern and that the state receives “dozens of reports of this nature every day” and no evidence was found to place him on the extremism watchlist, but it was subsequently claimed he was convicted of terror or criminal offences in his native Tunisia.
Lassoued was reportedly shot in the chest at the Schaarbeek cafe by police and died on the way to hospital. The Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said Tuesday morning, per Reuters, that “The weapon with which the attacks were committed has been found this morning where the man was apprehended in Schaerbeek… We are checking fingerprints to be 100% sure.”
Lassoued’s wife has also been arrested.
Reuters reports remarks by the Belgian Federal Prosecutor saying there was no link between this attack and the Hamas terror attack on Gaza last week, yet HLN reports Lassoued posted about the conflict and Swedish Koran burnings on his social media shortly before his allegedly launched his strike.
The Swedish government had warned its citizens they may be targets for terrorist strikes while travelling abroad in August because of the anger shown by Muslims about the freedom of expression demonstrations that took place in the country.
Belgium has increased the terrorism threat level to four in Brussels, the highest level. The government is to have emergency meetings today to decide further action.
