LIÈGE, Belgium — Belgian police said on Wednesday they had discovered a woman’s body at a cannabis warehouse used by a man who lobbed three hand grenades and opened fire at a crowded central bus stop here Tuesday, killing four people, wounding more than 100 and creating panic before killing himself. The death brought the toll to at least five.
No motive was immediately established, though the Interior Ministry said it was not related to terrorism, for which European cities have long been on alert. The man had a history of run-ins with the law.
Cedric Visart de Bocarme, a prosecutor, told a Belgian radio station on Wednesday that “a search last night revealed in a warehouse used by the attacker, notably to grow cannabis, the body of a woman killed by the attacker before he went to the central Place St.-Lambert” to launch the main assault.
Three victims died on the spot and at least one died later at a hospital, Belgian news reports said.
The attacker was identified as Norodine Amrani, 33, of Liège, who received a 58-month prison sentence for drug and gun offenses in 2008. He had been summoned to appear before the police on Tuesday, suggesting that his attack was some sort of desperate final lashing out. The reason for the questioning was not clear.
The attack took place just after noon at a crowded bus stop in Place St.-Lambert, a hub of the Old City that hosts an annual Christmas market and is the site of a main courthouse building. Liège is in eastern Belgium and is the country’s third-largest city, after Brussels and Antwerp.
“I saw a lot of blood splashed over parts of the square,” said Jean-Marie Deprez, 59. “It looked like thousands of people were trying to flee the square, and a lot of them were running toward the River Meuse to save themselves.”
The police discovered Mr. Amrani’s van nearby and destroyed it, Danièle Reynders, the city prosecutor, said in a televised news conference.
Ms. Reynders identified three of the people killed as “a 15-year-old — a young boy who died on the spot — a 17-year-old and a 75-year-old woman who died outside the court.” Belgian news media reported that a 20-year-old man later died in a hospital and that a 2-year-old girl was in critical condition, with some saying she had died.
“We’d never observed that he had any mental problems,” Ms. Reynders said of Mr. Amrani. “He has no history of terrorist acts.” An inquiry will determine if the attack was premeditated, she said.
The local news media described Mr. Amrani as a weapons expert, skilled at repairing firearms, who was sentenced for having 9,500 weapons parts and a dozen complete weapons, as well as for growing 2,800 marijuana plants.
On Tuesday, he left his home in Liège armed with hand grenades, a revolver and an assault rifle, then made the half-hour downhill walk alone to the central square, Ms. Reynders said. He still had a number of grenades with him when he died, she said.
Witnesses told the Belgian news media that the assailant had hurled explosives from a platform above a bakery. A police official told The Associated Press on Tuesday evening that at least 123 people were wounded.
“It was total panic, and people were running everywhere,” said Catherine Leburton, 55, a barmaid at Le Bus Taverne, which overlooks Place St.-Lambert. She said she had heard four explosions and a volley of gunfire.
The explosions sent glass far and wide from the bus stop, which serves 1,800 buses a day. Video showed people fleeing, including a large group of children. The police rapidly closed off the area and moved through surrounding streets on foot and searched by helicopter for possible accomplices.
But by midafternoon, Peter Mertens, an Interior Ministry official, confirmed that there had been only one attacker and that he had died at the scene. Mr. Mertens said the authorities had also ruled out the possibility that the attack was part of a diversion to help free prisoners at the Court of Justice nearby.
A witness in the square told RTL Television that he had seen a man throw grenades before firing haphazardly at the crowd with an assault rifle. When that weapon appeared to be out of bullets, “he took a revolver and he shot himself in the head,” the witness, who was not identified, told the broadcaster.
Television images showed scenes of panic in the center of the city as sirens blared and police officers ran through the lunchtime crowds. Blood could be seen on the cobblestones of Place St.-Lambert, lined with rows of stalls selling seasonal trinkets and snacks.
“It’s the beating heart of our city that was attacked today,” said Francis Bourdoux, 42, who lives near Place St.-Lambert.
Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London, Stephen Castle from Brussels, and J. David Goodman from New York.
Src : New York times
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| grenade and gun attack in the Belgium |
No motive was immediately established, though the Interior Ministry said it was not related to terrorism, for which European cities have long been on alert. The man had a history of run-ins with the law.
Cedric Visart de Bocarme, a prosecutor, told a Belgian radio station on Wednesday that “a search last night revealed in a warehouse used by the attacker, notably to grow cannabis, the body of a woman killed by the attacker before he went to the central Place St.-Lambert” to launch the main assault.
Three victims died on the spot and at least one died later at a hospital, Belgian news reports said.
The attacker was identified as Norodine Amrani, 33, of Liège, who received a 58-month prison sentence for drug and gun offenses in 2008. He had been summoned to appear before the police on Tuesday, suggesting that his attack was some sort of desperate final lashing out. The reason for the questioning was not clear.
The attack took place just after noon at a crowded bus stop in Place St.-Lambert, a hub of the Old City that hosts an annual Christmas market and is the site of a main courthouse building. Liège is in eastern Belgium and is the country’s third-largest city, after Brussels and Antwerp.
“I saw a lot of blood splashed over parts of the square,” said Jean-Marie Deprez, 59. “It looked like thousands of people were trying to flee the square, and a lot of them were running toward the River Meuse to save themselves.”
The police discovered Mr. Amrani’s van nearby and destroyed it, Danièle Reynders, the city prosecutor, said in a televised news conference.
Ms. Reynders identified three of the people killed as “a 15-year-old — a young boy who died on the spot — a 17-year-old and a 75-year-old woman who died outside the court.” Belgian news media reported that a 20-year-old man later died in a hospital and that a 2-year-old girl was in critical condition, with some saying she had died.
“We’d never observed that he had any mental problems,” Ms. Reynders said of Mr. Amrani. “He has no history of terrorist acts.” An inquiry will determine if the attack was premeditated, she said.
The local news media described Mr. Amrani as a weapons expert, skilled at repairing firearms, who was sentenced for having 9,500 weapons parts and a dozen complete weapons, as well as for growing 2,800 marijuana plants.
On Tuesday, he left his home in Liège armed with hand grenades, a revolver and an assault rifle, then made the half-hour downhill walk alone to the central square, Ms. Reynders said. He still had a number of grenades with him when he died, she said.
Witnesses told the Belgian news media that the assailant had hurled explosives from a platform above a bakery. A police official told The Associated Press on Tuesday evening that at least 123 people were wounded.
“It was total panic, and people were running everywhere,” said Catherine Leburton, 55, a barmaid at Le Bus Taverne, which overlooks Place St.-Lambert. She said she had heard four explosions and a volley of gunfire.
The explosions sent glass far and wide from the bus stop, which serves 1,800 buses a day. Video showed people fleeing, including a large group of children. The police rapidly closed off the area and moved through surrounding streets on foot and searched by helicopter for possible accomplices.
But by midafternoon, Peter Mertens, an Interior Ministry official, confirmed that there had been only one attacker and that he had died at the scene. Mr. Mertens said the authorities had also ruled out the possibility that the attack was part of a diversion to help free prisoners at the Court of Justice nearby.
A witness in the square told RTL Television that he had seen a man throw grenades before firing haphazardly at the crowd with an assault rifle. When that weapon appeared to be out of bullets, “he took a revolver and he shot himself in the head,” the witness, who was not identified, told the broadcaster.
Television images showed scenes of panic in the center of the city as sirens blared and police officers ran through the lunchtime crowds. Blood could be seen on the cobblestones of Place St.-Lambert, lined with rows of stalls selling seasonal trinkets and snacks.
“It’s the beating heart of our city that was attacked today,” said Francis Bourdoux, 42, who lives near Place St.-Lambert.
Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London, Stephen Castle from Brussels, and J. David Goodman from New York.
Src : New York times
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