Belgian attack sees two police officers and civilian shot dead

A gunman has shot dead two female police officers and a civilian in the eastern Belgian city of Liège in an incident that is being treated at terrorist-related. Local media claims that the man was heard shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is greatest’ in Arabic) during the incident in Liège in the morning of 29 May. Although the suspect’s motive is not yet clear, the incident is being treated as terrorism. La Libre Belgique newspaper has reported that the gunman also took a woman hostage at some point in the attack. The attacker, who prosecutors said disarmed the two police officers after stabbing them from behind and then killed them along with a 22-year-old bystander, was shot and killed in turn. Belgium has been on high alert following a series of ISIS-coodinated attacks in the country and in neighbouring France over the last few years, accentuated in the November 2015 Paris attack which was undertaken by a Brussels-based terrorist cell. 130 people died in that attack. Additionally, coordinated bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station in the city on 22 March 2016 killed 32 people.