Emmanuel Macron has declared that Europe must be wary of ‘Islamist terrorism’ in the wake of two fatal attacks by extremists on the continent in the past four days.
Speaking to media today, the French President said: ‘All European states are vulnerable… there is a return of this Islamist terrorism.
‘We all have a vulnerability. It’s what comes with being a democracy, a rule-of-law state where there are individuals who can decide at a given moment to commit the worst acts,’ Macron told reporters in the Albanian capital Tirana.
His comments came just hours after Belgian police shot dead a suspected gunman following an intensive manhunt for an ISIS fanatic who killed two Swedish football fans in Brussels with an automatic rifle last night.
In the wake of the attack, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called for stricter border controls in Europe.
‘These terrorists want to scare us into obedience and silence. That will not happen,’ he said. The shooting came at a time of heightened security concerns across much of Europe linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
That attack came just days after Mohammed, a 20-year-old Chechen refugee, stabbed a French schoolteacher to death and injured two other people in a knife attack at a school in Arras in northern France on Friday.
Mogouchkov launched his brutal attack almost three years to the day after a similar killing of a teacher near Paris, which shocked the public and triggered a massive security response.
France again raised its security level after Friday’s attack, deploying 7,000 troops.
French President Emmanuel Macron talks during a press conference with Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama (not pictured) following their meeting in Tirana, Albania, 17 October 2023
Video shows Abdesalem Lassoued dressed in a fluorescent orange jacket and carrying a gun driving through the streets of Brussels last night
This handout photo released by an anonymous source on October 13, 2023 shows the suspected perpetrator (C) of a knife attack being escorted by a policeman outside of the Gambetta high school in the town of Arras, northern France
Mohammed Mogouchkov, a 20-year-old Chechen refugee, stabbed a French schoolteacher to death and injured two other people in a knife attack at a school in Arras in northern France on Friday
Press meeting with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at Rosenbad due to yesterday’s attack on Swedish people in Brussels, in Stockholm, Sweden October 17, 2023
Armed officers in Brussels this morning opened fire on suspect Abdesalem Lassoued, 45, after he was cornered inside a café in the neighbourhood of Schaerbeek at 8am, shooting him in the chest.
An ambulance was later seen taking a wounded Lassoued to hospital, while his scooter he is said to have used to flee the terror attack was towed away.
The automatic rifle that Lassoued had used to kill the two Swedish football fans last night was also found on his person.
There were conflicting local media reports about the condition of the attacker, with some saying he was wounded but survived the police shooting.
However, Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden later confirmed Lassoued had been shot and killed by police during his arrest today. ‘The perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Brussels has been identified and has died,’ Verlinden said.
Prime Minister Alexander de Croo earlier said the suspect was of Tunisian origin and had been living in the country illegally before launching what he called a brutal terrorist attack.
Lassoued opened fire on a group of Swedish football fans in a taxi last night as they passed through Boulevard d’Ypres just a few minutes north of the city’s famous Grand Plaza ahead of Belgium’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden.
Several people fled into an apartment building after hearing the gunshots, but Lassoued followed them and opened fire again in the entrance hall in an attack he said was to avenge the killing of a six-year-old US-Palestinian boy.
A Belgian federal prosecutor initially said there was no evidence that the attacker had any link to the renewed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, but that was no longer excluded, RTBF broadcaster said.
Belgian police today arrested a suspected gunman following an intensive manhunt for an ISIS fanatic who shot dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels with an automatic rifle in a terrorist attack. Pictured: Police at the scene
Police opened fire during the arrest, a spokesman for the Belgian prosecutors’ service, Eric Van Duyse, said, without confirming a report by broadcaster RTBF that the suspect was wounded. Pictured: Police at the scene this morning
View of the crime scene on the aftermath of the shooting in Brussels on Tuesday, with blood seen on the white walls
Many Sweden fans at King Baudouin Stadium were tearful and clung to each other for support, while others checked their mobile phones for the latest information
Disturbing video shows the attacker on a motorbike stalking people and shooting them, with other images circulating online showing the body of one person inside a taxi.
Dramatic video later appeared to show the gunman, who was dressed in a fluorescent orange jacket, fleeing on a motorbike while being tailed by a member of the public.
‘The terrorist attack that happened yesterday was committed with total cowardice, the attacker chose as a target two Swedish football fans,’ de Croo told a news conference, adding that a third person – a taxi driver – was seriously wounded.
‘Terrorism strikes indiscriminately,’ he said. ‘It aims to sow fear, mistrust and division in our free societies. Terrorists must know that they will never achieve their goals.
‘They will never make us bend. Their hatred and violence only prove their powerlessness.’
Sweden expressed its devastation over the shooting – which occurred just before a Belgium-Sweden football match Monday evening – and European leaders were quick to offer their solidarity.
On Friday, 57-year-old French literature teacher Dominique Bernard was murdered in a stabbing at a high school in Arras, Northern France.
A 20-year-old Chechen refugee Mohamed Mogouchkov was taken into custody along with his brother.
Mr Bernard, a father of three girls, was married to an English teacher at the school, and had tried to reason with Mogouchkov when he stormed into the school playground with two knives.
But the refugee went on a rampage, killing Mr Bernard, and then severely wounding two other adult members of staff.
Witnesses said the attacker could be heard to shout ‘Allahu Akbar’, while French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the incident bore a link to the Middle East as Palestinian terror group Hamas called on Muslims to demonstrate on a ‘day of Jihad’.
Dominique Bernard, 57, a French literature teacher, was murdered – allegedly at the hands of 20-year-old Chechen refugee Mohamed Mogouchkov – at Gambetta high school in Arras at 11am local time on Friday
French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) is pictured arriving at the Gambetta high school in Arras
Officers stand guard in front of Gambetta high-school in Arras after a teacher was killed
There are still high emotions in Arras as members of the public continue to leave flowers in Mr Bernard’s memory
A woman leaves flowers outside Gambetta High School, where Mr Bernard lost his life
Police officers hold flowers as they stand guard at the entrance of the Gambetta high school
‘This school was struck by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism,’ Macron said after visiting the site Friday.
‘The teacher who was killed had come forward to protect others and without doubt saved many lives.’
France upped its alert level to the highest position following a crunch security meeting chaired by Macron, and will deploy 7,000 soldiers to maintain order.
President Macron told reporters another attempted terror incident had been foiled by security forces.
According to the interior ministry, the president was referring to the arrest of a ‘radicalised’ man who was detained as he left a prayer hall in the Yvelines region of Paris while carrying a prohibited weapon.
A total of eight people were in police custody yesterday following Mr Bernard’s death, a police source said.
In addition to the attacker, several members of his family were arrested ‘for the purposes of the investigation’, including one of his brothers and his sister, other police sources said.
The national anti-terrorist prosecutor announced that it has opened an investigation.
Mogouchkov was already on a French national register known as ‘Fiche S’ as a potential security threat, a police source said, and under electronic and physical surveillance by France’s domestic intelligence agency the DGSI.
Mr Bernard, a French teacher, was stabbed in the throat and chest.
Among those wounded were a school security guard who was stabbed multiple times and is fighting for his life, and a teacher in a less serious condition, the source added.
A cleaner was also hurt, according to anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard.
No pupils at the school were hurt, another police source said.