Assassination in Liege

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On May 29, 2018, there was an attack in the Belgian city ​​of Liège . One man killed a former inmate and three more people downtown, took a hostage and was shot by police . The Belgian judiciary classifies the acts in Liège as "terrorist murders". The terrorist organization Islamic State claimed the act for itself; however, the perpetrator himself had no contact with the terrorist group. The investigators believe it is possible that the man wanted to give his act an Islamist appearance.

background

The perpetrator was a 36-year-old man registered in Rochefort who had served several prison terms for robbery and drug trafficking . At the time of the crime, he was also serving a sentence. Possibly he adopted radical Salafist ideas in custody , which motivated him to act later.

According to Prime Minister Charles Michel , the man was indirectly mentioned in reports of radicalized people in Belgium. He himself was not known to the security authorities as an extremist; various authorities have come to the conclusion that there is no reason to classify him as "radicalized".

did

The Boulevard d'Avroy in Liège

The perpetrator was on clearance . Before the crime in Liège, the man killed a former inmate in the southern Belgian province of Luxembourg .

On the morning of May 29, 2018 at around 10:30 a.m. on Boulevard d'Avroy, near Café Aux Augustins , the perpetrator followed two policewomen, stabbed them from behind, stole their service weapons and shot both of them. Then the perpetrator shot and killed a 22-year-old student who was sitting in the passenger seat of a car. The perpetrator went to a nearby school and took a cleaner hostage.

When the police arrived, the perpetrator shot the officers directly. One officer was seriously injured and two shot in the leg. The police eventually shot the man.

The Belgian anti-terror authority took over the investigation because of the "suspicion of a terrorist offense".

Investigations

While some media initially speculated about a terrorist attack immediately after the crime and placed the case in the context of the Salafist attacks in Belgium in 2016 and 2017 , Belgian politicians and representatives of the authorities referred to the missing information.

After initial investigations, the crime had elements that suggested a terrorist attack. Liège Police Chief Christian Beaupère said: "The attacker's aim was to hit the police, that is the institution, the Belgian state". Belgium's “terror warning level” remained unchanged at level two.

motive

The terrorist organization 'Islamic State' spread the message via its propaganda channel ' Amaq ' that the attacker in Liege was a soldier of the Islamic State. De facto , the investigations did not reveal any evidence that the assassin was in contact with the terrorist group or was even controlled by it.

The investigators assume that at least the man's first murder of an acquaintance was not religiously fanatical, but privately motivated. During the later deeds in Liege, he repeatedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) , but it is also believed that the perpetrator wanted to give his act a religious touch. It is also checked whether he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the crime.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b attacker from Liège killed before the attack. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 30, 2018, accessed May 30, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Álvaro Sánchez: Abatido un hombre tras matar a dos policías y un transeúnte en Lieja. In: El País. May 29, 2018, Retrieved May 29, 2018 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ a b James Crisp: Belgium shooting: 'Radicalized' prisoner on day release kills two female police officers in Liege. In: The Telegraph. May 29, 2018, accessed May 29, 2018 .
  4. ^ A b Gunman kills three in Belgium attack. In: BBC. May 29, 2018, accessed May 29, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c "The target was the police". In: [[Tagesschau (ARD) |]]. May 30, 2018, accessed May 30, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b c Belgium: Man shoots three people in Liège. In: Zeit Online . May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Tre döda i terrordåd i centrala Liège Belgium i. In: SVT Nyheter. May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018 .
  8. ^ Belgium: dead and injured in shots in Liège. In: Spiegel Online . May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Kai Küstner: Liège assassination - doubts about an Islamist motive. In: Deutschlandfunk . Retrieved June 2, 2018 .