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Belgium police have fatally shot the suspected terrorist accused of gunning down two Swedish soccer fans on a Brussels street after a nationwide manhunt, according to reports.
“The perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Brussels has been identified and died,” Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The 45-year-old Tunisian suspect was shot by law enforcement on Monday in a cafe in the Schaerbeek neighborhood, not far from where the rampage had been carried out hours earlier.
The man was struck in the chest and rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to local media.
“The weapon with which the attacks were committed has been found this morning where the man was apprehended,” Verlinden said.
Belgium’s Interior Minister shared that authorities did their due diligence to be sure the man was the suspected gunman who evaded police following the brazen shooting.
“We are checking fingerprints to be 100% sure,” she said.
Verlinden also revealed she could not rule out whether the suspect had any accomplices who aided him with the attack.
Monday’s attack that left two Swedish nationals dead and a third wounded in central Brussels struck fear in those across the country.
The suspect quickly fled the scene after carrying out the heinous shooting, which launched a massive search and triggered the government to raise its terror alert level to 4 — the highest level.
Identifying himself as a member of the Islamic State named Abdesalem Lassoued, the suspect claimed responsibility for the shooting on behalf of the ruthless terrorist organization and said he was a fighter for Allah in a video posted on social media.
In videos of the shooting posted on social media, a man wearing an orange fluorescent vest is seen pulling up on a scooter, taking out a large rifle, and opening fire on passersby before chasing them into a building to continue the carnage.
The attack was allegedly in retaliation for the murder of a 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois over the weekend.
Joseph M. Czuba, the 71-year-old Chicago-area landlord accused of stabbing the young boy and his mother, has been arrested and charged with murder and hate crimes.
During a hearing Monday, prosecutors told the court Czuba had been closely monitoring coverage of the violence in Israel and was convinced his Muslim tenants would harm him as part of Hamas’ “day of jihad” last Friday.
“The attack that was launched yesterday was committed with total cowardice,” Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said during a press conference.
De Croo said the three shooting victims had just left a “wonderful soccer party” before they were shot — two of them fatally.
“Their lives were cut short in full flight, cut down by extreme brutality,” he said.
The shooting occurred three miles from King Baudouin Stadium as the Euro 2024 qualifying soccer match between Belgium and Sweden was already underway.
The match was halted at halftime, but the Swedish and Belgium national teams chose not to resume play following the tragedy.
“Following a suspected terrorist attack in Brussels this evening, it has been decided after consultation with the two teams and the local police authorities, that the UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden is abandoned,” UEFA said in a statement on Monday.
More than 35,000 soccer fans were locked down in the national stadium for hours given the heightened terror alert level and since the suspect was still on the run and presumed armed and dangerous.
The suspected gunman had allegedly sought asylum in Belgium in November 2019 and was known to authorities as a suspected human trafficker, Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said during a news conference.
In recent years, Belgium has been the target of several Islamist attacks — the deadliest being the 2016 attack on Brussels airport and the city’s commuter rail that left 32 people dead.
“Let’s stay united in this terrible challenge of these terrorist attacks. We will never be intimated by terrorism,” De Croo said after the shooting.
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