Belgium killing spree

[Qaanol]

The BBC reports that men with guns and grenades have started killing people in central Liege, Belgium.

Deadly attack rocks central Liege in Belgium

A gun and grenade attack in the centre of the Belgian city of Liege has killed at least two people and wounded about 10, Belgian media say.

They say several men threw grenades and fired on a crowd at a bus stop.

Some reports say one of the attackers is among the dead. Local media said another had been seized by police but gunfire was continuing.

The area has been sealed off. There is no word on who carried out the attack.

I’m not sure what to say.

Except, of course, that if you have grenades and guns and you’re firing at a crowd, you’ve got to be pretty lousy at it if you only kill 2 people.

[Rodion Raskolnikov]

BBC is saying there's 25 injured now. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I have a feeling the number of people dead will go up soon.

[johnny_7713]

The Dutch news site nu.nl is reporting, partially second hand form other media, the following:

- Two gunmen, armed with Kalashnikovs and Thunderflash* grenades
- Two dead, dozens injured, though numbers still uncertain
- One of the dead believed to be one of the gunmen, shot by police
- There are claims / rumours that the attacks are connected to an escape attempt from the Palace of Justice (i.e. law-courts)

*Side-note: AFAIK Thunderflashes are training devices, designed to make a loud bang to simulate the effect of being under fire, but not actually designed to hurt people.

[Diadem]

One of the more reliable Dutch newspapers now reports 4 deaths and 65 wounded. They now say only 1 shooter, who is among the dead, and is named as "Nordine Amrani". Belgian authorities claim the attack was not related to an attempt to escape the palace of justice as was reported earlier.

The shooter had been in jail before for possession of firearms and drugs.

There are also reports that shooting is still going on, which seems to contradict the statement of there being only 1 shooter, so I don't know how reliable those are. Also they are still looking for explosives so local residents are adviced to stay indoors.


I'm surprised at the low number of victims. It's an extremely busy square, and the guy had grenades and a kalasnikov. A lot of wounded though, so perhaps the guy was just shooting randomly without really caring if the people he shot died or not. Or perhaps he had a more specific target. There are rumors of the case being linked to a honor killing trial that has been going on.

Either way it's pretty terrible. These kind of things aren't supposed to happen in Western Europe.

[Zamfir]

They're not supposed to happen anywhere.

[Gigano]

The Belga News Agency now reports 6 dead (including a 23-month old baby) and 123 wounded. This is just awful.

[Cathy]

BBC Article

The attacker is a 33 year old man named Nordine Amrani. He's known to the police due to previous drugs and weapons charges. Apparently he threw grenades from the top of a building before starting to shoot.

This is horrible.

[addams]

They're not supposed to happen anywhere.

Yeah. But; Really not Western Europe.

[lucrezaborgia]

Apparently he threw grenades from the top of a building before starting to shoot.

If the reports are correct about these grenades really being flash-bombs, that is probably the reason why the death count is low. People had time to scatter.