Man shot during suspected terror attack in Brussels is ‘Arabic ex-soldier who had contact with known jihadists’
The suspect has been identified by prosecutors as 43-year-old Hicham D who is a Belgium national.
A KNIFE-WIELDING man was shot in the leg by police after he stabbed two officers in a suspected terror attack.
The 43-year-old, who has only been identified as Hicham D, was discharged from the Belgian army in 2009, and was already known to law enforcement for having had contacts with people who left to fight with Islamic extremist groups in Syria, according to daily newspaper Le Soir.
The Belgium national has been arrested by police.
Two police officers in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels were attacked at noon on the street by a man with a knife, the Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
Another police patrol overpowered the man, who was shot in the leg before he was arrested.
During that operation, a third police officer was slightly injured, it said.
State-run broadcaster RTBF said the assailant stabbed one officer in the neck, the other in the abdomen and broke the nose of a third officer who shot him.
"We have reason to believe that it is terror-related," prosecutor's office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told The Associated Press, but declined to explain why.
A 17-year-old French high school student, Stan Racine, witnessed the attack and told the suspect then shouted something in what he believed was Arabic.
At the stabbing scene, a dark green multi-implement eating utensil, similar to those used by soldiers, was marked as evidence on the ground. It was not immediately clear if that was the attack weapon.
An investigating judge specializing in terrorism cases will decide whether Hicham D. should remain in custody, prosecutors said.
They said the wounds received by police and the suspect were not life-threatening.
Related Stories
Shortly before, a train station in Brussels was also evacuated following a bomb scare.
Bruxelles Nord station was emptied after police received a call warning of a bomb threat.
"This will continue until security services inspect the station, minimum an hour.";
Meanwhile, Eric Van Der Sypt, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor's office, told AFP: "We have elements to believe that the incident was a terrorist attack."
Services resumed after bomb disposal teams checked the area and is not believed to be linked to the stabbing incident.
It is allegedly the second time the station has been emptied this week over a suspected bomb alert.
Brussels remains on high alert following terror attacks across the country in March, which killed 32 people.
In August, a machete-wielding man shouting "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is Great" - attacked and seriously wounded two policewomen in the southern Belgian city of Mons. The assailant was shot dead, and the attack was later claimed by ISIS.
Then, on September 7, a man carrying a knife attacked two police officers in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, but the officers were wearing bulletproof vests and suffered only bruises, prosecutors said. The assailant said nothing during that attack and gave no indication of his motives.
For the latest news on this story keep checking back at Sun Online, where we will bring you live updates as soon as they happen, before anyone else.
Like us on Facebook at , and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun, where we will bring you this story and all the rest of the top news and exclusives of the day.
is your go to destination for the best celebrity news, football news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video
