The highest terror alert level applies in the Belgian capital after two Swedes were shot dead in Brussels on Monday evening around 7:15 p.m. The men were apparently football fans wearing Swedish jerseys; that evening the European Championship qualifier between Sweden and Belgium was scheduled to take place in the nearby King Baudouin Stadium. The game did not restart after the break.
According to the Belgian broadcaster RTBF The two men were shot dead in a taxi. The taxi driver is also said to have been seriously injured Dagens Nyheter but his life is not in danger.
Belgian police confirmed to Reuters that the victims were Swedish. Apparently the man then shot a third man, whose condition is currently unknown.
“This evening we received terrible information from Brussels,” wrote Sweden’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer in an initial statement. “The government office and the relevant authorities are working intensively to obtain further information about the incident. The government is in direct contact with the Belgian government.”
According to RTBF, Belgian security authorities are in possession of a video in which a man claims responsibility for the Islamic State terrorist group and claims to have killed the three Swedes to avenge Islam. The authenticity of the video is yet to be verified. The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet quoted from the video the sentences “I am a Mujahideen for Allah within the Islamic State, IS. We live for our religion. We die for our religion. We thank God. Your brother Abulsalam takes revenge for the Muslims and now I have killed three Swedes. I thank God. I will meet God and the Prophet with joy.” The perpetrator was still at large late on Monday evening and is said to have been driving through Brussels on a scooter.
The investigation is currently being conducted by the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. If it turns out that it was a terrorist attack, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office will take over the investigation.
Since the spring, there have been repeated burnings of the Koran in Sweden, which are covered by freedom of expression, which has repeatedly led to violent protests in the Muslim world. In mid-August, a terrorist group close to Al Qaeda on Telegram about attacks in Sweden and called against Swedish citizens.
Terrorism researcher Magnus Ranstorp from CATS/Defense University Stockholm said Svenska Dagbladet, he was “dismayed but not surprised. Five or six terrorist organizations made specific threats to Sweden after the Koran burnings and the LVU campaign.” The LVU campaign was a targeted disinformation campaign that claimed on social media last year that the Swedish state was taking children away from Muslim families.